Denis Vieru starts the year where he ended in 2021: winning

Being world number one, bronze medallist at the Tokyo Olympic Games and world champion in 2015, not to mention his two victories at the World Masters, Baul An (KOR) was not only one of the favourites but was the number one favourite of the competition. However, it was not him who found himself in the final against the other top seed of the tournament, the Moldovan Denis Vieru, who had pretty tough matches to reach the final.

It was indeed the Swiss Freddy Waizenegger, 180th in the world ranking, without reference on the circuit, who dethroned the Korean to face Denis Vieru (MDA) for the gold medal. There are victories that mark a career, moments that leave traces. For Baul An, this defeat will leave him with a taste of incompleteness, while for Waizenegger, the scent will be sweeter and more pleasant.

As soon as the final began, it appeared that Denis Vieru was clearly a level above Freddy Waizenegger this time. Despite his unbelievable performance in the semi-final, the Swiss judoka couldn't do anything against Vieru's power and technical skills. The latter executed throws for two waza-ari scores, with style, to win the title.

Denis Vieru declared, "I’m world number 2 and I have 2 goals this year: being number 1 and fighting in every final. Today was a step forward toward that."

Freddy Waizenegger said, "I was not affraid of Vieru even if it was my first WJT final. The problem is that I injured my right elbow in the quarter-final and was not at 100%, but hey, it was a great day."

In the first match for a bronze medal, the Japanese Yamato Fukuda (JPN) was opposed by Bogdan Iadov (UKR) and the Ukrainian competitor was not afraid of his opponent, moving forward to win a brilliant bronze medal.

For the second bronze medal we found Baul An, with the desire for revenge, against the Mongolian Narmandakh Bayanmunkh. The Korean champion did not want to go home with empty pockets. He gave no chance to Narmandakh Bayanmunkh to win the bronze medal.