Six Americans, including World Masters gold medalists Travis Stevens and Kayla Harrison, will be competing at the Judo Grand Prix event in Budapest, Hungary this weekend. Stevens and Harrison will both have to wait until Sunday to compete while on Saturday Adonis Diaz in the men’s -60kg division and two Olympians, Angelica Delgado and Marti Malloy, will compete in the women’s -52kg and -57kg division respectively. Diaz has yet to advance past the round of 32 in two grand prix events this year and Delgado has yet to break that mark in three events. Malloy has had more success though and won her only grand prix event of the year back in Havana.
Kayla Harrison joined Travis Stevens on Sunday by winning a gold medal and giving the US two champions at the World Masters in Guadalajara. Both followed a similar path as Harrison needed to win a shido penalties in her opener but then scored ippons in the quarterfinals, semifinals (over Great Britain’s Natalie Powell), and final (over Brazil’s Mayra Aguiar) to grab gold. There’s no doubt that Harrison will be favored to win back-to-back golds when she heads to Rio.
The other American competing on Sunday, Colton Brown in the men’s -90kg division, saw his competition end quickly. Brown lost to Switzerland’s Ciril Grossklaus in a match that featured only shido penalties. Brown picked up one more, 3-2, so he was knocked out in his first match.
The next major judo event is the grand prix stop in Budapest, Hungary starting June 25th.
Travis Stevens is peaking at the right time. The two-time Olympian won the World Masters on Saturday and is poised to challenge for a medal in Rio later this summer. Stevens path to gold in Guadalajara was not devoid of drama. He won his opening match when it was decided on shido penalties and he had one less, 3-2. He was down in shidos 3-0 in the quarterfinals before a late ippon overturned that to give him the win. Ultimately though Stevens came through when it counted and scored ippons in the quarterfinals, semifinals (over Greece’s Roman Moustopoulos), and final (over Belgium’s Joachim Bottieau) to grab gold.
The US certainly has another shot at gold on Sunday as 2012 gold medalist Kayla Harrison competes in the women’s -78kg division. The final US competitor is Colton Brown in the men’s -90kg division. Brown just finished seventh in the judo grand prix event in Almaty last weekend.
While it didn’t end in a medal Marti Malloy was only beaten by two of the best at the Judo World Masters in Guadalajara. After an opening win via ippon Malloy lost in the quarterfinals to the eventual runner-up, France’s Helene Receveaux, after an ippon in a tight match. She lost by the same result in the repechage match to Korea’s Jandi Kim who ended up grabbing one of the bronze medals. Travis Stevens competes for the US in the -81kg division. Stevens grabbed silver in Havana earlier this year.
The best of the best in the judo world are gathering for the Judo World Masters in Guadalajara, Mexico this weekend. Only four Americans have a spot in the competition and competing on Friday will be Marti Malloy. Malloy won the grand prix stop in Havana and was third in the Paris grand slam event.
The best grand prix finish by an American since the first event of the year came this weekend and it wasn’t by whom you might expect. Making his first grand prix appearance since the 2016 opener in Havana Colton Brown won his opening two matches to become the first American to reach the quarterfinals since Havana. Brown had an ippon to beat Kazakhstan’s Meirambek Zhangabay and defeated Ukraine’s Vadym Synyavsky with a waza-ari. Brown was finally defeated in the quarterfinals by Azerbaijan’s Mammadali Mehdiyev. Brown was penalized four times with a shido in the match leading to an automatic victory for Mehdiyev. Brown had a repechage match against Russia’s Mihael Zgank but lost via ippon to miss out on a bronze medal match.
No other Americans got wins on Sunday. Mark Fletcher and Ajax Tadehara, both in the men’s -100kg division, lost their openers. Tadehara lost to Jason Koster of New Zealand on a yuko while Fletcher lost to Estonia’s Grigori Minaskin on a quick ippon. Fletcher was competing in his first grand prix event of 2016. Over on the women’s side Nina Cutro-Kelly in the +78kg division lost her opener via ippon to Lithuania’s Santa Pakenyte.
The next judo grand prix stop isn’t until June 25th in Budapest, Hungary. In the meantime the prestigious Masters tournament takes place in Guadalajara, Mexico starting May 27th.
Two Americans got wins on Saturday but it was Hannah Martin advancing to the round of 16 for the first time in a grand prix event this year that had the highest finish of the three Americans competing. Martin took care of Kazakhstan’s Azhar Salykova via ippon in her opener to reach the round of 16 for the first time in four 2016 grand prix events. A tough matchup with Canada’s Stefanie Tremblay for a quarterfinal spot ended up being decided by Martin having more shido penalties. three to one. Competing in the same women’s -63kg division as Martin, Leilani Akiyama lost to three yukos from Brazil’s Ketleyn Quadros.
Over on the men’s side Nicholas Delpopolo opened with the narrowest of wins over Portugal’s Nuno Saraiva. The only thing on the scorecard at the end of the match was a single shido penalty for Saraiva, sending the American through. His next match was decided by shidos as well but this time Delpopolo was on the wrong end 2-1 to Egypt’s Mohamed Mohyeldin.
The final day of competition on Sunday will feature four more Americans. Colton Brown is in the men’s -90kg division while two American men, Mark Fletcher and Ajax Tadehara, compete in the -100kg division. On the women’s side Nina Cutro-Kelly takes part in the +78kg division. Tadehara has a round of 16 appearance earlier this year and Cutro-Kelly was seventh in the first grand prix event of 2016.
No success on the first day of the judo grand prix event in Almaty, Kazakhstan as the only American competing, Aaron Kunihiro, went the distance but was defeated by Azerbaijan’s Vugar Shirinli by a waza-ari. Nicholas Delpopolo will go for the US on Saturday in the men’s -73kg division. Like Kunihiro he has yet to advance past the round of 32 this year. Leilani Akiyama and Hannah Martin, both in the -63kg division. Akiyama made the round of 16 in two of her four grand prix events so far in 2016. She is the only American to compete at every grand prix and grand slam stop this year.
After disappointing results in Baku in the judo grand slam event last weekend the Americans will be hoping to find more success this weekend. No US women will compete on Friday but Aaron Kunihiro will be competing in the men’s -60kg division. Kunihiro is yet to advance past the round of 32 in his three grand prix competitions so far this season.
The US found no more success on the final day of the Judo grand slam event in Baku than they had on Saturday as they once again went 0-3. In the women’s +78kg division Nina Cutro-Kelly was defeated by an ippon from Ksenia Chibisova of Russia in less than 90 seconds. None of the four US women won a match in Baku. In the men’s -90kg division Colton Brown was defeated by Patryk Ciechomski of Poland by a waza-ari while in the -100kg division Ajax Tadehara lost to Ramziddin Sayidov of Uzbekistan via ippon.
The next Judo Grand Slam event will be in Tyumen, Russia starting July 16th. The next Grand Prix stop (slightly lesser prestige) is next weekend in Almaty, Kazakhstan May 13th-15th.