Potentially the most anticipated head to head of the Upper Austria Grand Prix 2025, was the closing act. In the +100kg final we witnessed the Tokyo Olympic final pairing of Lukas KRPALEK (CZE) and Guram TUSHISHVILI (GEO). It is always an explosive match up, and today proved just that, with one tribune dedicated to the Czech athlete and another for Team Georgia, the Tips Arena went wild.
Based on their previous contests, Tushishvili looked to have an edge on his final opponent, sealing his final fate with an eight-second ippon win. Of course he wasn’t so fortunate when it came to this great rivalry and it ran the full four minutes, but at the midway point, Tushishvili was able to throw Krpalek from his knee with uchi mata to score yuko. This was all he needed to secure the gold medal win in Linz, his first outing since the Olympic Games in Paris. It was a champions ending as Krpalek congratulated his victor and the pair took a second bow before Tushishvili applauded his close rival.
The heavyweight category was dominated by Europe with bronze medals going to Jelle SNIPPE (NED) and Yevheniy BALYEVSKYY (UKR). The same could be said for the -78kg category where bronze medals were won by Metka LOBNIK (SLO) and Julie HOELTERHOFF (GER). In the final, it was a head to head between World bronze medallist, Emma REID (GBR) and top seed, Tbilisi Grand Slam winner, Yuliia KURCHENKO (UKR). The latter was dominant on the grips and Reid panicked in a clinch, attempting a sasae tsuri komi ashi, but was countered by Kurchenko for ippon.
In the -90kg category, it was unfortunate that we were unable to see the final between Georgian team mates, Tato GRIGALASHVILI and Giorgi JABNIASHVILI, however the three time World Champion and Olympic silver medallist, Grigalashvili was forced to pull out to tend to an injury. Another national rivalry came in the +78kg category for the French athletes; Celia CANCAN and Grace-Esther MIENANDI LAHOU, it was a tough contests but Cancan kept up the pace, while Mienandi Lahou fell behind and ceded three shidos. A bronze medal went to Tina RADIC (CRO) in stunning fashion as she devastated Iriskhon KURBANBAEVA (UZB) in only 10 seconds with uchi mata.
As for the -100kg category final, it was a rather interesting result as both athletes have moved from -90kg; TOTH Krisztian (HUN) and Ivan Felipe SILVA MORALES (CUB). Both were locked in the battle but unable to produce a score for the gold medal, and instead Toth picked up a third shido in golden score.
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen