Sleeve Control and Nerve Carry Clarisse Vallim to Cadet -70 kg Gold

Clarisse Vallim of Brazil and Valerie Tombou of Belgium drove the story in the cadet -70 kg category, both pushing with clear intent toward the final. In the end, Vallim took gold after a tense battle that stretched deep into golden score.

The top two seeds looked locked in from the start. Vallim, the cadet world number one, powered through every round by the maximum score on her way to the last contest of the day. Tombou, ranked world number 4, had to work harder through her side of the draw, but still arrived in the final looking ready for a real test.

Vallim’s judo was built around sharp sleeve control and repeated seoi-otoshi attacks. That pattern stayed constant in the final. Tombou understood the danger and tried to disrupt the Brazilian’s gripping, but Vallim kept the pressure high and that forced the Belgian into a difficult position in normal time, where she received two Shido.

Then the match changed.

Tombou came alive in golden score and pushed Vallim under real pressure.

In golden score, Tombou stepped forward with more aggression and far less acceptance of Vallim’s grips. The final suddenly felt much more open. Vallim was visibly under pressure as the Belgian raised the intensity, but with so little room left for error after two penalties, Tombou was always close to the limit. After almost seven minutes of total fighting time, the third Shido ended it.

Vallim threw her hands in the air and smiled toward her coach, three-time Olympic -70 kg athlete Maria Portela. It was a release after a final that had shifted from control to danger and back again.

Afterward, Vallim spoke with emotion about the people behind her result. She said she felt grateful to her technical staff, her family and especially her mother, and added that the scale of the achievement had not fully sunk in yet. During the competition, she kept telling herself it was just one more fight.

For Europe, Tombou’s silver was a strong result in a category packed with pressure. She pushed the world number one harder as the final went on and showed real resilience when the match entered golden score.

There was more European impact in the medal contests. Diana Samoiliuk of Ukraine claimed bronze after opening fast against Viktorija Ragauskaite of Lithuania. Off the first grip, Samoiliuk launched a big osoto-makikomi for Waza-ari and stayed in command from there, later adding Yuko.

Elene Kurgelia of Georgia, meanwhile, came into her bronze-medal fight after a brutal quarter-final loss to Samoiliuk. She had been in a winning position there before a lapse in focus turned the match around completely. Her recovery bid ended short against Momoka Takeda of Japan, leaving the Georgian outside the medals.

The final standings reflected a category with both authority and tension: Vallim took gold, Tombou earned silver, and the bronze medals went to Takeda and Samoiliuk. In a division led by the top seeds, the biggest moment belonged to Vallim, but Tombou’s late surge gave the final its edge.

Source: IJF.org

Image source: IJF / International Judo Federation