The Canadian judoka is ranked second in the world in the women's -57kg category, but is battling it out with world number one Christa Deguchi for the only spot on the Canadian Olympic team. And although Klimkait, a bronze medallist from Tokyo 2020, is doing well, she is almost always a step behind Deguchi. 

The World Championships were a good platform for the two Canadians to meet and for Klimkait to turn things in her favour. Both reached the final, although Klimkait had some tough moments against Mongolia's Enkhriilen Lkhagvatogoo in the quarter-final. But her semi-final against Korea's Mimi Huh went the wrong way, with the Korean scoring a waza-ari in the third minute. This was enough for Huh to defeat Klimkait and reach the final. Losing the semi-final could be crucial for Klimkait as this is the last qualifying event before Paris 2024.

On the other hand, Deguchi made a confident run to the final, defeating former European champion Timna Nelson-Levy and former world runner-up Momo Tamaoki. Deguchi again finished ahead of Klimkait, but she wasn't able to retain her 2023 world title.

Mimi Huh has had an incredible year so far, recently winning the Grand Prix Portugal 2024 and the Asian Championships 2024. She defeated Daria Kurbonmamadova (individual neutral), Acelya Toprak (Azerbaijan) and Shukujon Aminova (Uzbekistan) on her way to the semi-finals. The 21-year-old Korean has become one of the biggest threats in the weight category and her last defeat on the international stage came on 24 June 2023 when she lost to Klimkait in the semi-finals of the Ulaanbaatar Grand Slam. 

The final bout against Deguchi lasted 13 minutes, with two judokas showing incredible defence and good attack. Each had two shidos during the golden score and they fought hard for the winning action. In the end Deguchi got the third shido and Huh became world champion for the first time in her career.

Klimkait won her third place match against Nelson-Levy. Deguchi and Klimkait had similar tournaments, losing to the same athlete. The decision is up to the Canadian coaches, but it seems that Deguchi is in pole position for an Olympic ticket.

Hidayet Heydarov is one of judo's brightest stars at the moment. Ranked number one in the world in the men’s 73 kg category, he rarely loses in major competitions. Since the 2023 World Championships, where Heydarov finished fifth, he has had only two defeats and 6 gold medals, including two continental titles. However, Heydarov had never reached the final of a World Championships and had three bronze medals from previous championships. 

Heydarov's last defeat came in December 2023, when he lost to Kosovo's Akil Gjakova. Ironically, Gjakova was Heydarov's first opponent in Abu Dhabi, and Heydarov won the bout by two waza-aris. 

He continued his impressive run when he met Japan's Tatsuki Ishihara. After three minutes of even fighting, Ishihara scored a waza-ari with just 40 seconds left on the clock. But Heydarov responded with a strong attack and scored an ippon with 10 seconds left to claim the first world title of his career.

2023 World Champion Nils Stump, who lost to Ankhzaya Lavjargal (Mongolia) in the quarter-finals, won his re-match and the third-place bout to take bronze. Lavjargal was the second bronze medallist.

The men's -66kg was an all-Japanese final and the two finalists are not even the two strongest judokas in Japan. In the absence of Tokyo 2020 gold medallist and four-time world champion Hifumi Abe, Ryoma Tanaka and Takeshi Takeoka defeated all their opponents to reach the final and fight for the gold medal. Tanaka became world champion, while Takeoka took the silver medal. The bronze medals went to Vazha Margvelashvili (Georgia) and Luukas Saha (Finland). The bronze medal will also secure Saha a ticket to Paris 2024, as he will improve on his 36th place in the Olympic rankings.

All the medallists of the Day two at the 2024 Judo World Championships

Men’s -66 kg
1. Ryoma Tanaka (Japan)
2. Takeshi Takeoka (Japan)
3. Luukas Saha (Finland)
3. Vazha Margvelashvili (Georgia)

Men’s -73 kg
1. Hidayat Heydarov (Azerbaijan)
2. Tatsuki Ishihara (Japan)
3. Ankhzaya Lavjargal (Mongolia)
3. Nils Stump (Switzerland)

Women’s -57 kg
1. Mimi Huh (South Korea)
2. Christa Deguchi (Canada)
3. Jessica Klimkait (Canada)
3. Momo Tamaoki (Japan)