Travis Stevens captures Panam title U81kg

Travis Stevens captured the Pan American Games title on Monday evening in Toronto.The American judoka had been winless in 2015 and had been in search of a win to boost his confidence. The two-time Olympian won the men’s -81 kg and was in control the entire match.

Stevens: “Making sure I got just ahead enough to where he had to push the pace, I can kind of dictate what we were doing, when we were doing it,” Stevens said. “It gave me the ability to when I did get put in a bad spot, to just fall down and if I get a penalty, so be it. I knew I could throw him; I just needed a couple of minutes to let him feel the judo.”

The last event that Stevens won was the Pan American Open in Miami in August 2014. Before that his last big victory at world level was the Grand Prix in Dusseldorf in February 2014. In his last three events he lost his first contest, in Zagreb, Baku and Rabat, all World level events. Only at the Pan American Championships in April in Edmonton (CAN) he won a bronze medal, against Ivan Felipe Silva, today's final opponent.

Stevens went on the offensive early, after scoring yuko at 1:30, he was able to dominate the remainder of the match until he flipped Cuban Ivan Felipe Silva at 3:32 to score ippon and clinch the victory. Victor Penalber of Brazil and Pedro Castro of Colombia each won the bronze medal.

This is Stevens’ second Pan American Games medal as he won gold in Rio in 2007. At his second Olympic appearance in 2012, Stevens missed the podium, finishing fifth. Three years after that disappointment, he was comforted when he reached the top of the podium at a major international meet and feels he is in the right spot on the Road to Rio.

“This has boosted my confidence a ton,” Stevens said. “I haven’t had a good competition here this year, so this is putting me right in the right path to win the world championship.”

“It means a great deal. I wish I could have done it in London, but a couple of circumstances didn’t let me, but I’m looking forward to it in Rio.”

Former World number one Victor Penalber (BRA) and Colombian Pedro Castro won the bronze medal in Toronto.