Lucy Renshall claims third Grand Slam gold in 2021

Lucy Renshall has used the year to do more than just confine herself to home. The British athlete started the year quietly and as time passed her performance improved until it reached its peak. Gold in Antalya, silver in Paris and again gold in Baku; it is clear that this is her year. In Abu Dhabi she had a final that was announced as bittersweet against a strong opponent, but she came from home with tons of sugar. In front of her was Sanne Vermeer, three years younger and also with an excellent year behind her, but where Renshall oscillates between gold and silver, the Dutch competitor has not passed bronze in 2021.

Vermeer scored waza-ari, looking fresher and with a well-established plan. Renshall was trying the uchi-mata but her attacks were predictable until she changed and surprised Vermeer with ko-soto-gake. 1-1 and golden score, the third in a row of the day. Renshall finished off with seoi-nage and won another autumn title. Vermeer changed the colour of her medal but it is not gold yet.

“I’ve got confidence after getting medals in Paris and then Baku. This is the last event of the year and I had to do well. I was tired today but I pushed through,” Renshall declared.

In the battle for the first bronze, Australian Katharina Haecker surprised the world by winning gold in Tel Aviv a year ago but needed something more to defeat Slovenian Andreja Leski, first seed in Abu Dhabi and who had already surpassed Haecker in their three previous matches. Haecker took the initiative and her right hand commanded the kumi-kata. They reached golden score, already with two shido. Haecker applied the osoto-gari but Leski's reaction was brutal with an explosive seoi-nage. Bronze and 4 wins to 0 for Leski.

The second bronze was the classic opposition between past and future: 34 year old Brazilian Ketleyn Quadros versus 21 year old Czech Renata Zachova. There was also a golden score period, which favoured the younger judoka, although the initiative belonged to the Brazilian. With two shido against the Czech she had to be careful because Quadros used her experience to accumulate attacks and provoke a third shido against Zachova. That's what happened, the bronze for Quadros and a lesson in managing a medal match for Zachova.