Inal Tasoev beats home hope Kokauri for third world heavyweight judo title as Lee Hyeon-ji, 19, wins +78kg
Russia's Inal Tasoev won a third world +100kg title in Baku and South Korea's Lee Hyeon-ji, 19, beat Romane Dicko for women's +78kg gold.
The individual events at the 2026 World Judo Championships in Baku ended on Saturday 10 October with two very different heavyweight winners. Russia's Inal Tasoev won his third world +100kg title by beating Azerbaijan's Ushangi Kokauri in front of a home crowd that was firmly on Kokauri's side. In the women's +78kg, South Korea's Lee Hyeon-ji, aged 19, beat former world champion Romane Dicko of France for her first senior world title.
Tasoev keeps the red backpatch
Tasoev came to the National Gymnastics Arena as reigning champion and left with his third world gold. According to the International Judo Federation (IJF), Kokauri went for an o-uchi-gari in the final, but Tasoev stepped out of the attack and turned it into a te-waza counter scored as ippon. Reports say the decisive throw came with about 100 seconds left. Tasoev has still never lost to Kokauri.
Tasoev's semi-final against Azerbaijan's Dzhamal Gamzatkhanov lasted 37 seconds. Kokauri reached the final by beating Finland's Martti Puumalainen, scoring an early yuko, adding another in the last minute and then holding on.
After the final, Tasoev said he knew the crowd was against him and that he respected it. He said "I heard that everyone was against me in the arena". He has said the Olympic title is his next target.
Silver again for Kokauri in Baku
It was another painful final for Kokauri on home soil. He also reached the world final when Baku last hosted the championships in 2018, and lost that one to Georgia's Guram Tushishvili.
Azerbaijan still took two medals in the category. In an all-Azerbaijan bronze-medal contest, Kanan Nasibov beat Gamzatkhanov after about six and a half minutes, when Gamzatkhanov picked up his third shido. The other bronze went to the Czech veteran Lukas Krpalek, aged 35 and a two-time Olympic champion. He threw Puumalainen with tomoe-nage for waza-ari and then pinned him to finish the contest.
Lee Hyeon-ji completes a set of world titles
Lee was not one of the favourites, but she won the women's heavyweight category. She beat top seed Raz Hershko of Israel in the semi-finals and then met Dicko in the final. The two had never fought each other in international competition.
Dicko scored first. Lee then threw her with harai-goshi for waza-ari and went straight into a hold-down, which was held long enough for ippon. Euronews reported that Lee had won all her earlier contests by ippon.
The gold gives Lee world titles at every age level. She was world cadet champion in 2023 and world junior champion in 2024. At last year's senior world championships in Budapest she won bronze. She said winning the gold was a source of great pride for South Korea.
Both bronze medallists won by ippon. Russia's Mariia Ivanova used a left uchi-mata for a yuko and then held Italy's Asya Tavano down. Hershko beat Croatia's Helena Vukovic in golden score with seoi-otoshi, for her second world championship medal.
Mixed team event and Astana 2027
Before the heavyweight finals, Azerbaijan handed the IJF flag to Kazakhstan. Astana will host the 2027 World Championships. The championships end in Baku on Sunday 11 October with the mixed team event, in which each team fields three men and three women.
Key takeaways
- Inal Tasoev beat Ushangi Kokauri with an ippon counter for his third world +100kg title.
- Kokauri lost a world final in Baku for the second time, after also losing in 2018.
- Lukas Krpalek and Kanan Nasibov won the men's heavyweight bronze medals.
- Lee Hyeon-ji, 19, beat Romane Dicko for +78kg gold and now holds world titles at cadet, junior and senior level.
- The championships finish with the mixed team event on Sunday 11 October.
FAQ
Who won the men's +100kg at the 2026 World Judo Championships? Inal Tasoev of Russia won it, beating Azerbaijan's Ushangi Kokauri in the final. It is his third world title.
Who is Lee Hyeon-ji? She is a 19-year-old South Korean heavyweight. She won the +78kg world title in Baku after earlier winning world cadet gold in 2023 and world junior gold in 2024.
Where are the next World Judo Championships? The 2027 World Championships will be held in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Sources: International Judo Federation, Euronews, JudoInside