Judo Worlds: no seventh title for Clarisse Agbégnénou, nor podium

“Even though I have achieved great things in my career, I remain human.” Clarisse Agbégnénou reaffirmed this two weeks ago, before flying to Baku to compete in the World Championships, just to temper the excitement surrounding her return to the tatamis. Five months after giving birth to her second child, a little boy named Dakota who joined her sister Athena, born in 2022, the French judoka managed to climb to the third step of the podium during the Grand Slam in Lausanne at the end of August. A comeback as impressive as it was rapid, which reinforced his ambitions of winning a seventh world title in the Azerbaijani capital...

An objective which, unfortunately, collapsed just when it seemed to be consolidating. Opposed in the quarter-finals to the Hungarian Ana Kriza, whom she had just beaten during her first fight in Lausanne, Agbégnénou was the clear favorite on paper. But this status would only crumble over the minutes of a fight that escaped him. Trailing by a yuko, the six-time world champion managed to come back to the level to compete for a golden score, which her opponent approached on a tightrope, with already two penalties (shido) on her counter. But after fifteen seconds in this extra time, the earthquake: Kriza surprised the Frenchwoman and scored a waza-ari synonymous with victory.

Staring into space, head in her hands, Agbégnénou seemed marked. This was evident a few minutes later, when she challenged Mongolian Enkhriilen Lkhagvatogoo, ranked 2nd in the world in her under 63kg category. A fight during which the Habs would never succeed in finding solutions. As if his frustration had clouded his mind. Penalized twice, she drank the chalice to the dregs by suffering a yuko fifteen seconds (again) from the end of a duel which she finished angry and helpless. A day without a medal for France, therefore, since Manon Deketer, the other Blue involved, had given in in the round of 16.

However, the Frenchwoman’s entry into the fray was impeccable. Opposed to the Slovenian Kaja Kajzer Zabkar, finalist of the Budapest Grand Slam a little less than a month ago, Agbégnénou showed herself as diligent as she was efficient to win in just over two minutes of combat, with a mowing immediately followed by immobilization on the ground. A solid start, which spared him any unnecessary energy expenditure. Which was going to be the watchword of her round of 16, where she faced Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard, bronze medalist at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and world vice-champion a year later. Above all, the Canadian remained with two successes in a row over the native of Rennes. The kind of statistic that galvanizes the French “lioness”…

So, this Wednesday, despite the tactical options decided by Beauchemin-Pinard to try to disrupt the triple Olympic champion, the grand cru was signed Agbégnénou. Imperturbable, she brought down the penalties on her rival, before delivering the blow just before the gong of a precious yuko to avoid a golden score which was always potentially perilous. Alas, while hope was growing, the ax was about to fall in the next round for the Frenchwoman who, at 33, is aiming for a second individual Olympic title in Los Angeles in two years.