After a perfect start to the day, Romane Dicko, the only Frenchman in the running this Thursday at the Budapest World Championships, was beaten in the semi-finals in the +78kg category. She will therefore have to be content to fight for a bronze medal.
At only 25, Romane Dicko is already a five -time European champion, once world champion and double Olympic bronze medalist. The native of Clamart would have liked to add a second star to her judogi. But this Thursday at the Budapest Worlds, she failed in the semi-finals of +78kg.
After a perfect day, the French, world n ° 1, bowed against n ° 5, the South Korean Hayun Kim, against whom she had not lost since 2019 and she had beaten in the quarterfinals in Paris 2024 in the team event.
Dicko was disqualified after 4’38 of combat and will therefore have to be content to fight for the bronze medal. It will be against the 17-year-old Emma-Melis Aktas Estonian, 92nd in the world, which she has never faced. Before this disillusionment against Kim, Romane Dicko had chained the ippons: after 1’56 of combat against the Italian Asya Tavano for his entry in the running, then after 40 seconds against the Chinese Jinesinuer Ayiman in the knockout stages and after 2’23 against the Dutch Karen Stevenson in quarters.
No French in +100kg
In the other category in the running this Thursday in Budapest, that of the +100kg male, France did not present a competitor. Teddy Riner is slowly recovering from his operation at the elbow and did not wish to try to win a twelfth world title. It will probably be only a delivery since he intends to compete until 2029. The second French in the category, Tieman Diaby, is currently 44th in the world.
In the absence of Riner, the title will be played between the Georgian Tashishvili and the Russian Tasoev, the n ° 4 and the world n ° 1. Before this last day devoted to the individual tests, France occupies fourth place in the medal classification, behind Japan, the neutral athletes and Italy, with three medals. A Dicko bronze medal would not make him climb in the standings.
