By Duncan Mackay at the Maracanãzinho in Rio de Janeiro

Teddy Riner won a record sixth gold medal at the World Championships in Rio de JaneiroAugust 31 - The legend that is Teddy Riner wrote another glorious chapter into the history books when he again won the gold medal in the over 100 kilograms category at the judo World Championships here today.


The Frenchman beat Brazil's Rafael Silva by ippon in the final to claim his fifth consecutive world gold in the category and his sixth overall, to go with the Olympic gold he won in London last year.

And he is still only 24.

On paper Silva, the London 2012 bronze medallist, was ranked number one in the world but there was no stopping Riner, who in an increasingly crowded calendar prefers to ration his efforts to ensure that he is at peak form for occasions like this, especially following a period of injury earlier this year, which included his left shoulder.

There was little signs of the struggle the 6ft 8in 128kg giant has undertaken to be here as he took less than a minute to defeat Silva.

Teddy Riner (blue) of France celebrates his victory against Rafael Silva of Brazil in the over 100kg final category at the World ChampionshipsTeddy Riner (blue) of France celebrates his victory against Rafael Silva of Brazil in the over 100kg final category at the World Championships

The bad news for Riner's rivals is that he is already planning to come back here in 2016 to defend his Olympic title. 

"I'm really happy because for me Rio has a special taste as my senior career really started here when I won my first world title at the age of 18 in 2007," he said.

"Now I'm 24 and today I've won my sixth world title.

"This is only the beginning of the story, I'm still really motivated.

"It's been a difficult year because I've been injured for most part but thanks to the medical staff I could get ready and come back in time.

"I had a really good feeling today about my judo and I wanted to apply an o-soto-gari which I was successful with."

The bronze medals were won by Tunisia's Faicel Jaballah, Africa's first success of this event, and Germany's Andreas Toelzer, who had lost to Riner in the last two World Championships at Paris in 2010 and Tokyo 2011 respectively. 

Elkhan Mammadov won Azerbaijan's first ever gold medal at the judo World Championships when he beat the Netherlands Henk Grol in the under 100kg eventElkhan Mammadov won Azerbaijans first ever gold medal at the judo World Championships when he beat the Netherlands Henk Grol in the under 100 kg event

Elkhan Mammadov of Azerbaijan won gold in the half-heavyweight under 100kg category, defeating the Netherlands' Henk Grol, bronze medallist at both Beijing 2008 and London 2012,in the final.

It was the first senior world title won by a judoka from Azerbaijan, the third country to strike gold for the first time at these Championships, following Kosovo and Israel.

Bronze medals went to Lukas Krpalek of the Czech Republic and Dimitri Peters of Germany.

The event was also notable for the participation of Myles Porter, the London 2012 Paralympic silver medallist.

The 28-year-old, who is visually impaired, became the first Paralympian to compete in these Championships.

He lost to Uruguay's Manuel Bueno but hopes to return to Rio in 2016 for the Paralympics and Olympics. 

In the only women's final of the day, Olympic champion Idalys Ortiz of Cuba won the over 78kg title, beating Maria Suelen Altheman of Brazil, as Jung Eun Lee of South Korea and Megumi Tachimoto of Japan claimed the bronze medals.

To watch the latest action on JudoTV click here.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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