As the two French judoka came on to the tatami, the atmosphere felt like Paris Bercy, at the heart of the Accor Arena, as the noise rose sharply. Fontaine attacked first but without success. The contest continued at a measured pace until she surprised Dicko, wrapping her up with a makikomi for a waza-ari. Fontaine maintained her control and completed the sequence with a hold-down for ippon. It was a fine victory, built with patience.
Léa Fontaine declared, "Lausanne is a place I know well. This season hasn't been easy, I've lost a lot of contests, so winning here makes me really happy. Even when I was down by two penalties in the final, my strategy was to keep attacking because I felt I had an opening with my makikomi and I managed to execute it. Lausanne is beautiful; the stadium feels a bit like Bercy, just on a smaller scale. The crowd was amazing and with all the French fans, it almost felt like competing at the grand slam in Paris, which was great to experience."
The bronze medal contests also offered two contrasting international match-ups. Mariia Ivanova and Elis Startseva contested an all-Russian encounter, while Venezuela’s Karen Leon faced Yuli Alma Mishiner of Israel.
It took Ivanova only 30 seconds to score ippon and claim bronze against her teammate. Mishiner then performed an excellent seoi-otoshi against Leon for a waza-ari, enough to secure the second bronze medal and the second grand slam bronze of her career.
Final (+78 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (+78 kg)
