Competitive class U78kg lead by Inbar Lanir

If there was ever a world champion who surprised herself by winning, visibly and publicly, it’s Inbar Lanir. She knew she was in good shape but she didn’t expect to be the gold medallist in Doha and yet her coach never stopped believing and together they walked away from the tatami with the biggest prize of them all, well, the biggest ahead of Paris 2024.

Since Doha, Lanir has taken big strides and now believes she can win every single time. She dominates, she throws fast, she sticks to the plan. Shaking her resolve is going to be quite a challenge at the Games.

Alice Bellandi (ITA), world number two, is someone capable of disrupting Lanir. She lost concentration in Doha and had to settle for bronze when perhaps expected to win by the majority. She will be unwilling to make the same mistake twice and in Paris she will be prepared to hold her line. Few can match her physical presence but all are working on the tactics, the strategy, and below the one and two there are many reliable candidates, from the other world champions Aguiar (BRA), Tcheumeo or Malonga (FRA), Wagner (GER) and Hamada (JPN). Let’s also throw into the mix a David against Goliaths that is Lytvynenko (UKR).

Profile Inbar Lanir

Israeli judoka Inbar Lanir is the 2023 World Champion of Doha and winner of the IJF World Masters in 2023. Lanir claimed the European U23 title in 2020 in Porec and bronze at the European U23 Championship in 2019 in Izhevsk. Inbar took bronze at the Junior European Championships in Porec in 2020. Last year she took European bronze in 2023 in Montpellier. She took silver at the Grand Slam Tokyo in 2023 and gold at the Grand Slam in Ulaanbaatar in 2023. There’s still work to do for the holder of the red back patch.