It sounds cliché, the calm before the storm, but it is also true. With the Portuguese Grand Prix just around the corner, there is silence in the queues. Presumably, athletes will be shuttled between the gym and the sauna each day to lose the last few grams of unwanted fat. We assume that everyone will be eager to get back on the circuit and do what they love, which is racing at the highest level. As we have not seen anything yet, little can be said, but there is data that can guide us.
We are like those intelligence analysts who, due to lack of field activity these days, dedicate themselves to analyzing facts and studying graphs. In our diagrams there is one that can mean a lot, or it can be a detail, but it is worth talking about. For the first time in many years no Japanese judoka leads the world ranking. Taking into account that there are fourteen categories and that the Japanese have nine active Olympic champions, it is a situation that draws a lot of attention, especially in regard to the lighter categories, the traditional hunting ground of the Japanese team.
We already said it: it is possible that the situation is not a true reflection of reality, after all, Shohei Ono is the best in -73 kg for six years without ever having been the leader in points. The same can be said of the French Teddy Riner. However, we are also willing to affirm the opposite. France’s Clarisse Agbégnénou is top of her class at -63kg and has won it all in 2021 and Georgia’s Lasha Shavdatuashvili lost Olympic gold to Ono, but he is the reigning world champion and parsimoniously leads his class.
Shohei Ono
There are immovable rankings that confirm a trend, such as the -52 kg, where the French Amandine Buchard leads ahead of her traditional executioner in the finals, the Japanese Uta Abe.
There are people who do not come down from the top three positions and there is no way to get them out of there, not even with hot water, such as the Belgian Matthias Casse, the Russian Arman Adamian, the Portuguese Jorge Fonseca, the German Anna-Maria Wagner or the Kosovar Distria Krasniqi.
What we can say is that, among women, Europe exercises leadership in an absolutist way, with seven leaders, three of whom are French, two Kosovars, one Croatian and one German.
Men are more spread out, there is more universalism, more Asian presence, but not Japanese. Russia has the largest number of leaders and also a strong presence in the top five in each category. There is one who comes from Taipei, a Korean and an Uzbek. There are also Georgians, who live on the cusp of Euro-Asia.
In short, said like this, it may sound like a tropical salad in the middle of winter, but there are three things that we are sure of, if it is possible to be sure in the world of judo: especially the first swordsmen. will win medals this year because there is a mix of solid veterans and a lot of talented youngsters. The second certainty is that, at the world championships in Tashkent, in August, the Japanese contingent will be the protagonist with or without leadership in the ranking. The third and last is that at the end of the year there will be some categories with new leaders.
WORLD RANKINGS
MASCULINE
-60kg YANG Yung Wei (TPE) 5140 puntos
-66 kg AN Baul (KOR) 5240 points
-73kg SHAVDATUASHVILI Lasha (GEO) 5475 points
-81kg GRIGALASHVILI Tato (GEO) 6592 puntos
-90kg BOBONOV State (UZB) 7536 puntos
-100kg ADAMIAN Arman (RUS) 5420 puntos
+ 100kg BASHAEV Tamerlán (RUS) 6250 points
FEMININE
-48kg KRASNIQI Distria (KOS) 5920 points
-52kg BUCHARD Amandine (FRA) 5890 points
-57kg GJAKOVA Nora (KOS) 5880 points
-63kg AGBEGNENOU Clarisse (FRA) 7200 points
-70kg MATIC Bárbara (CRO) 5595 points
-78kg MALONGA Madeleine (FRA) 5940 points
+ 78kg DICKO Romane (FRA) 6450 points
FOUNTAIN: IJF/Pedro Lasuen
PHOTOS: IJF/ Gabriela Sabau / Emanuele Di Feliciantonio
