The fourth day of competition brought two more new world champions. Goki Tajima (men's -90 kg) from Japan and Margaux Pinot (women's -70kg) from France won their first gold medals of the World Championships. Anna-Maria Wagner (women's -78 kg) from Germany had won the World Championships in the Olympic year, 2021, and now she does it again in the Olympic year. 

For Wagner, the win was even more important as it confirmed her place in the German Olympic team. Alina Boehm, another German athlete in this weight category, has also had good results recently, but Wagner proved once again that she is ahead of her teammates. Boehm was eliminated from the tournament in the 1/8 final, while Wagner went into the final with confidence.

On the other side of the bracket, Italy's Alice Bellandi defeated two French legends, two-time Olympic medallist and returning world runner-up Audrey Tcheuméo in the quarter-finals and Tokyo 2020 runner-up Madeleine Malonga in the semi-finals.

The final between Wagner and Bellandi went to golden score and it was Wagner who scored an ippon in the 56th second of the extra time to claim her second world title. 

Malonga went home with the bronze medal, while Tcheuméo lost to Great Britain's Emma Reid in the third-place bout. Malonga had already been selected to represent France at Paris 2024, so the results of the World Championships won't affect the coaches' decision, even though Tcheuméo will be higher than Malonga in Abu Dhabi.

The same was true in the +70 kg category, where the French national team coaches chose 2019 World champion Marie-Eve Gahie over Margaux Pinot to represent France in the -70 kg at Paris 2024. 

But Pinot showed incredible character in Abu Dhabi, defeating world number two Elisavet Telstidou (Greece) in the semi-final and Gahie herself in the final. Pinot scored an ippon in the 20th second of the Golden Score to claim the first world title of her career.

With world number two Lasha Bekauri (Georgia) and Sanshiro Murao (Japan) absent in Abu Dhabi, Krisztian Toth (Hungary), Davlat Bobonov (Uzbekistan), Mihael Zgank (Turkey) and Nemanja Majdov (Serbia) were the four favourites for the title in the men’s -90 kg category. However, it was another Japanese judoka who came from nowhere to take home the gold medal. 

Toth, Bobonov and Zgank all lost their first fights in Abu Dhabi, and only Majdov managed to make it all the way to the final. However, he lost to Japan's number four Goki Tajima in the deciding bout.

Tajima, who's only recent success was a third-place finish at the 2023 Tbilisi Grand Slam, was competing at the World Individual Championships for the first time in his career. He knocked out 2023 World bronze medallist Marcus Nyman (Sweden), 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam champion Tristani Mosakhlishvili (Spain) and 2024 Paris Grand Slam bronze medallist Erlan Sherov (Kyrgyzstan) on his way to the final.

The final bout between Goki and Majdov lasted more than six minutes, and in the end it was the Japanese who scored a waza-ari to win the gold medal.

Goki's gold returned Japan to the top of the medal table with two gold, two silver and three bronze medals going into the final day of individual competition. 

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

Men’s -90 kg
1. Goki Tajima (Japan)
2. Nemanja Majdov (Serbia)
3. Erlan Sherov (Kyrgyzstan)
3. Tristani Mosakhlishvili (Spain)

Women’s -70 kg
1. Margaux Pinot (France)
2. Marie Eve Gahie (France)
3. Shiho Tanaka (Japan)
3. Madina Taimazova (Individual Neutral Athlete)

Women’s -78 kg
1. Anna-Maria Wagner (Germany)
2. Alice Bellandi (Italy)
3. Madeleine Malonga (France)
3. Emma Reid (Great Britain)