Built on endurance: Momo Tamaoki reaches No. 1 in the U57kg rankings

The U57kg category can feel like a highlight reel: sudden champions, quick peaks, and constant new threats. Momo Tamaoki has never relied on a single explosive moment to define her. Instead, she has stacked season after season of results, and that long-term grind has now lifted her to the top of the IJF world ranking.

No shortcut, just years of staying in the fight.

Tamaoki first announced herself globally in 2014, winning the World Junior title in Miami. At the time, she stood out in a rising wave of Japanese women’s judo talent, and the promise wasn’t a one-off. More than a decade later, she has become one of the most dependable performers in the division, collecting more than 25 medals on the IJF World Judo Tour and regularly showing up deep in the biggest events.

What’s still missing is the ultimate senior prize: a world title. She came closest in Budapest, taking silver at the World Championships in 2021 and again in 2025. Those finals didn’t bring gold, but they underlined something just as rare in modern judo—staying world-class across multiple Olympic cycles.

Her timeline is a steady chain of major wins rather than one defining breakthrough. She picked up key Grand Prix victories in Budapest in 2016, then in Zagreb and Hohhot in 2017. In 2021, she added Grand Slam titles in Tashkent and Baku, and in 2022 she became Asian champion. The momentum kept rolling with more important wins, including the 2025 Grand Slam in Baku, the Japanese national title, and Grand Prix gold in Qingdao.

Europe has been part of this fiercely rotating U57kg era too. Kosovo’s Nora Gjakova and France’s Timna Nelson-Levy are among the names who have held the ranking lead in recent years, showing how hard it is to stay on top for long. Tamaoki’s rise also matters at home: she is the first Japanese U57kg world ranking leader since Tsukasa Yoshida in 2019.

In a division that refreshes fast, consistency is a superpower.

With a new Olympic cycle unfolding, Tamaoki is once again positioned as a central figure in U57kg. Whether she can finally turn that consistency into a senior world title remains unanswered—but her place at No. 1 has already been earned the long way.

Source: JudoInside