Luise Malzahn steps into the footlight of sister Claudia

Luise Malzahn ended Germany’s wait for a gold medal as she defeated Slovenian world number six Ana Velensek in the -78kg final. Malzahn scored a yuko after two minutes with a ko-soto-gari and that slender advantage was the difference as Velensek could not impose herself into the contest which delighted the 3,000-strong crowd.

Velensek booked her place in the final by surging past Paris Grand Slam bronze medallist Audrey Tcheumeo via a waza-ari and ippon after only two minutes of action. Germany celebrated victory in the second semi-final as Miami Grand Prix silver medallist Malzahn defeated Paris Grand Slam runner-up Madeleine Malonga in 13 seconds by ippon from a forceful otoso-otoshi.

The first bronze medal was won by Tcheumeo who threw Asian Championships bronze medallist Zhang Zhehui (CHN) for ippon with a tani-otoshi with 11 seconds left. Zhang led until that point by a yuko from a 13-second holddown. The second bronze medal contest was won by Rome European Open silver medallist Natalie Powell who denied a French double by throwing Malonga for a waza-ari and pinning her for 15 seconds to win by wazari-awasette-ippon. The French youngster led by a waza-ari from an ouchi-gari until a quick turnaround in favour of her experienced British foe.