It has to be said that Riner had a tough day. N1 seed and bronze medallist at the last World Championships Alisher Yusupov of Uzbekistan challenged Riner in the semi-final and caught him with a waza-ari early in the bout. However, the reigning champion quickly levelled the score and tapped out his opponent for an ippon at the end of the bout. 

In the final Riner defeated Korea's Kim Minjong with waza-ari to claim a record 8th gold medal at the Paris Grand Slams. Riner was cheered on loudly by the home crowd, and there is no doubt that Paris 2024 will be no different. 

Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Romane Dicko (+78kg) breezed through to the semi-finals, where she met compatriot Lea Fontaine. The French semi-final ended with the more experienced Dicko winning. N1 seed Rez Hershko of Israel lost her semi-final to Turkey's Kayra Ozdemir. It took Dicko just 39 seconds to finish the job in the final as she pinned her opponent with an ippon to claim the gold medal. Fontaine and Hershko went home with bronze medals.

2021 World Champion Anna-Maria Wagner of Germany won the gold medal in the women's -78kg category, defeating Italy's Alice Bellandi in the final. Guusje Steenhuis of the Netherlands and Madeleine Malonga of France won their bronze medal bouts. 

Türkiye's Michael Zgank, the 2017 World runner-up, won his second major tournament last week. After winning gold at the Grand Prix of Portugal, he was unstoppable in Paris. The former Slovenian had a tough semi-final against Brazilian Rafael Macedo, which he won in extra time. The final against Azerbaijan's Elman Hajiyev was a tactical battle, but in the end of the fight Zgank caught his opponent with an ippon to take the gold medal. The bronze medals went to Maxime-Gael Ngayap Hambou of France and Erlan Sherov of Kyrgyzstan. 

Tokyo 2020 champion Aaron Wolf of Japan had a very strong day as he stormed into the final with five confident victories. Two-time 90kg world champion Nikoloz Sherazadishvili of Spain won the Grand Prix of Portugal last week and reached the final in Paris, but it was Wolf who took the gold medal, defeating Sherazadishvili with waza-ari. Bronze medals went to Aleksandar Kukolj of Serbia and Nurlykhan Sharkhan of Kazakhstan.

France topped the medals table with six gold, one silver and five bronze medals. The Accor Arena was packed on the final day of competition as more than 15,000 people came to watch the finals. And we can expect even more from Paris 2024.