Michaela Polleres sets the tone for 2023

At the second day in Jerusalem Marie-Eve Gahie found herself again and after a quick victory against Polling in the semi final, she faced Austrian Polleres in the final, but she also reinvented herself for these IJF Judo Masters in Jerusalem.

It didn't take long for Gahie to take the lead with a waza-ari scored after just a few seconds. The match seemed to go in one direction, the one of Gahie, but this is when Polleres decided to intervene. She scored a waza-ari as well, with a counterattack. Suddenly, the final looked totally different. Gahié was dominating and then she was dominated, while it was the other way around for Polleres, who eventually scored a second waza-ari. Gahié was looking unstoppable today, at least until the final and then it was another story. Congratulations to Polleres and we are also happy to see Gahié back at her best level, almost.

Bronze for Cvjetko and Niizoe

The first bronze medal contest saw Lara Cvjetko (CRO) facing Kim Polling (NED). From the start Polling seemed to be more active but throughout the match she couldn't score and neither could Cvjetko. During golden score, still no-one could make the difference until a 50/50 situation that was difficult to analyse. Was it for Polling with a low yoko-guruma or for Cvjetko with a ko-uchi-gari? The decision was given by the video refereeing: bronze for Lara Cvjetko (CRO) for that ko-uchi.

For the remaining spot on the podium, Saki Niizoe (JPN) faced Gabriella Willems (BEL). Niizoe took the lead at the beginning of the match with a waza-ari that she then managed to keep alive until the gong; a bronze medal for Japan.

Prelims

Sanne Van Dijke (NED) was the number one seed. She did not participate in the final block. Margaux Pinot, who we had seen in amazing form during the Paris Grand Slam at the start of the season, quickly disappeared from the draw. On the other hand, Michaela Polleres (AUT), who was an Olympic silver medallist in Tokyo, but a little behind since, once again reached the final. The very principle of great champions is to be able to be present when necessary.

World silver medallist in October in Tashkent, behind her compatriot Barbara Matic, Lara Cvjetko (CRO) again managed to enter the final block, while Matic was not having a good day.

In the second part of the draw, we knew the quality of Kim Polling's (NED) judo but we were probably not expecting such a party for the young mother. It was also she who took out the reigning world champion Matic, before losing to a strong comeback performance from Marie-Eve Gahié. We have been following the Frenchwoman's journey for months and asking ourselves all the questions possible. As world champion in 2019, she seemed untouchable and then a grain of sand came to stop the beautiful mechanics. There was nothing left, Gahié couldn't do it anymore, she was empty. She seemed totally paralysed at each of her appearances on the circuit.