Men's Flyweight (-58kg)
Vito Dell’Aquila (Italy) will enter the Olympics as the defending champion, having taken gold at only 20. He was the 2022 world champion but only made the quarter-finals in 2023. He beat Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi (Tunisia) in the Olympic final. Since then he has made the 2022 semi-final and 2033 quarter-final. His best year arguably came in 2022 as he finished second in the Grand Prix Final and the events in Rome, Paris and Manchester. South Korea arguably have two of the top five fighters in the division and Park Tae-Joon (South Korea) beat Jang Jun, who has stronger recent international competition form, to qualify. He won a 2023 World Championship at flyweight. Adrian Vicente (Spain) won the 2023 Grand Prix in Rome and won at the 2023 European Games. He beat Jack Woolley (Ireland) in the final of the Games. Gashim Magomedov (Azerbaijan) was a bronze medalist and has gone out in the World Championship quarter-finals. As did Nouridine Issaka (Niger) in 2023 and Samirkhon Ababakirov (Kazhakstan). The runner-up in 2023 was Georgi Gurtsiev (Russia). Lucas Guzman (Argentina) is another World Championship medalist but that was a bronze medal back in 2019. Omar Salim (Hungary) is a world champion from 2022 but that was down at Light Flyweight, where he also won two European Championships. Cyrian Ravet (France) will be buoyed by home support and won the 2022 Grand Prix in Paris. Bailey Lewis (Australia) has also performed well in Paris Grand Prix events, making the semi-finals in 2022 and 2023. Bocar Diop (Senegal), Hadi Tiran (Refugee), Lev Korneev (Serbia), Omar Yaser Ismail (Palestine) and Yohandri Granado (Venezuela) are also going to be competing.
This seems to be a division with a lot of strong contenders but no real standouts. Jendoubi has consistently performed well but doesn’t win enough events for me to be confident. Dell’Aquila has a lot of good wins but has lost to a lot of the other top fighters in the division recently.Tae-Joon is a bit of a wildcard as I'd have rated Jun higher.. Vicente is someone who has been in great form over the last two years and I think he can make an impact here. Salim is young and improving but you have to wonder how he will settle into the weight against the strongest opponents. Lewis has strong form in Paris but I think Ravet can cause a minor upset to get a medal.
🥇Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi 🇹🇳
🥈Adrian Vicente 🇪🇸
🥉Park Tae-Joon 🇰🇷
🥉Cyrian Ravet 🇫🇷
Men's Featherweight (-68kg)
It wouldn’t be a massive surprise to see a repeat of the Tokyo Olympics final. Ulugbek Rashitov (Uzbekistan) took gold and in 2023 won Grand Prix events in Rome and Paris. He made the semi of the 2023 World Championship. Bradly Sniden (Great Britain) lost in the final but is a double world champion, winning in 2019 and 2023. He could only finish second in 2022, which he also did in the 2022 Grand Prix Final and the 2023 European Games. Hakan Recber (Turkey) was the Olympic bronze medalist and won the 2022 Grand Prix event in Rome. Zaid Kareem(Jordan) was second twice that year before winning the Grand Prix Final. He was knocked out in the 2022 and 2023 World Championship quarter-finals. Levente Mark Jozsa (Hungary) won the 2023 Grand Prix Final after finishing second in Rome. Marko Golubic (Croatia) was a semi-finalist in the Grand Prix events in Rome and Paris in 2023. Javier Perez (Spain) won a 2022 Grand Prix event, taking the win in Paris and he was the 2023 winner of the European Games. Banlung Tubtimdang (Thailand) was the Asian Games winner in 2023 at Bantamweight and won silver in the 2023 World Championship. Also moving up from Bantamweight is Liang Yushuai (China) who was world champion in 2022. Edival Pontes (Brazil) has come down a weight division after winning silver at the 2022 World Championship. Bernardo Pie (Dominican Republic) was runner-up at the 2023 Pan-American Games and made the quarter-finals at the Tokyo Olympics. Ahmed Nassar (Egypt), Ibrahim Maiga (Burkina Faso), Kevin Kassman (Papua New Guinea), Lo Wai Fung (Hong Kong), Souleyman Alaphilippe (France) and Yahya Al-Ghotany (Refugee) are the other competitors.
This feels like one of the stronger divisions. The top two still feel like the top two and I can see a final again. Rashitov has beaten Sniden in their last two clashes and looks in slightly better form than the Brit. Jozsa has had some great results over the last 18 months and I can see him winning a medal. There are several competitors capable of winning the other medal, mainly Recber, Kareem, Perez and Golubic. I have to edge to Perez but I think the next most likely candidate would be Golubic.
🥇Ulugbek Rashitov 🇺🇿
🥈Bradly Sniden 🇬🇧
🥉Javier Perez 🇪🇸
🥉Levente Mark Jozsa 🇭🇺
Men’s Welterweight (-80kg)
Simone Alessio (Italy) is only 24 but has dominated recently. He is the reigning world champion, having been the 2019 champion at Lightweight. He won three Grand Prix events in 2022 including the final. In the World Championship final he beat Carl Nickolas (United States) who made the semi-finals at the Paris Grand Prix in 2022 and 2023. Mehran Barkhordari (Iran) won the 2023 edition after winning bronze in the 2022 World Championship. Also winning bronze in 2022, as well as 2023, was Seif Eissa (Egypt). He also has an Olympic bronze from Tokyo and came third in the 2022 Grand Prix Final. Another Olympic medalist from Tokyo will be Saleh Al-Sharabaty (Jordan) after he won silver. He also won the 2023 Grand Prix event in Rome. Firas Katoussi (Tunisia) won the 2023 Grand Prix event in Taiyuan, having been a semi-finalist at two Grand Prix events the year prior. Seo Geon-woo (South Korea) won the 2023 Grand Prix Final after coming second in 2022 and lost in the Taiyuan final, having beat Jasurbek Jaysunov (Uzbekistan) in the semi-final to get there. Edi Hrnic (Denmark) was the winner of the 2023 European Games. Leon Sejranovic (Australia) is a World Championship medalist, having won bronze in 2023 in the lightweight division. Stefan Takov (Serbia) won silver at lightweight in 2023, improving from his bronze in 2022. Both Henrique Marques (Brazil) and Faysal Sawadogo (Burkina Faso) have made the World Championship quarter-finals in recent years. Batyrkhan Toleugali (Kazakhstan), Farzad Mansouri (Refugee), Ismael Coulibaly (Mali), Joaquin Churchill (Chile) will also compete.
This is a strong field with very strong African representation. Alessio should be the favourite and it feels unwise to pick against him. Geon-woo has started to get some big wins and I think he can make his way through the competition to win silver. Behind them is a number of contenders. Nickolas looks the most likely candidate but Eissa is also a fixture at the end of major tournaments and I see those two winning bronze medals.
🥇Simone Alessio 🇮🇹
🥈Seo Geon-woo 🇰🇷
🥉Seif Eissa 🇪🇬
🥉Carl Nickolas 🇺🇸
Men’s Heavyweight (+80kg)
Cheick Sallah Cisse (Ivory Coast) was the 2016 Olympic welterweight champion but has been very successful at heavyweight over the last few years. He is the current world champion and won the 2022 Grand Prix Final. Carlos Sansores (Mexico) was the 2022 world champion and won silver in 2023. He also lost to Cisse in the 2022 Grand Prix Final and was the 2019 World Championship silver medalist. That tournament was won by Rafael Alba (Cuba). He came third in the Tokyo Olympics and won the 2022 Grand Prix in Paris. Ivan Sapina (Croatia) competed at the last Olympics but lost in the quarter-final. He is a former World Championship bronze medalist at Middleweight where he also won the 2023 European Games. Caden Cunningham (Great Britain) took the victory at heavyweight and has often medalled in Grand Prix events, winning in Rome in 2023. Emre Kutalmis Atesli (Turkey) won in Rome in 2022 before winning the World Championship bronze in 2023. Song Zhaoxiang (China) also took World Championship bronze in 2022 and was the 2023 Asian Games winner. Runner-up was Arian Salimi (Iran) who was a World Championship bronze medalist in 2023 at -87. Ivan Sapina (Croatia) won the -87 European Games where he was also a World Championship bronze medalist in 2019. Both Alasan Ann (Gambia) and Jonathan Healy (United States) have made the World Championship quarter-finals in recent years. Abdul Razak Issoufou (Niger) is a former world champion, but it was 2017 when he won gold as well as winning bronze in the World Cup Final. Richard Ordermann (Norway) won the World Cup Final in 2018 down at Welterweight where he has mainly competed. Also moving up in weight is Nikita Rafalovich (Uzbekistan) who made the semi final at the Tokyo Olympics at Welterweight. Gibson Mara (Papua New Guinea), Kasra Mehdipournejad (Refugee), Patrik Divkovic (Slovenia) and Paivou Gomis (Guinea-Bissau) will also compete but any being really competitive would be a shock.
Larin is the hard one to peg without much competition to go on over the last few years. Cisse has a great chance to take another Olympic gold and has had some great results over recent years. The improving Cunningham seems to be his closest contender and I think he can take silver. Behind him, I favour the experienced veterans of Alba and Sansores to take the other medals. Ordermann and Sapina also definitely have the potential if they can translate form from lower weights.
🥇Cheick Cisse 🇨🇮
🥈Caden Cunningham 🇬🇧
🥉Rafael Alba 🇨🇺
🥉Carlos Sansores 🇲🇽
Womens Flyweight (-49kg)
Panipak Wongpattanakit (Thailand) is the reigning Olympic champion after winning bronze in 2016. She was world champion in 2019, winning silver in 2017 and 2023. She won three 2022 Grand Prix events including the final and in 2023, she won the Rome event. It was Merve Dincel (Turkey) who beat her in the 2023 final after three silvers in 2022 Grand Prix events. She won the 2023 Grand Prix event in Paris and was the silver medalist in the 2023 European Games. Adriana Cerezo (Spain) took gold there. She was a Tokyo Olympic medalist, winning silver. She has finished second at the 2023 Grand Prix events in Rome and Paris. Another medalist in Tokyo was Avishag Semberg (Israel) who won bronze, as she did at the 2022 European Games. Lena Stojkovic (Croatia) also won at the European Games, in the light flyweight division. She is the reigning double world champion at that weight and is only 22. The 2022 world champion at flyweight was Daniela Souza (Mexico) after she beat Qing Guo (China) in the final. Dunya Abutaleb (Saudi Arabia) took bronze having moved down from -53. Michelle Tau (Lesotho) has come the other way, moving up from -46. Mobina Nematzadeh (Iran) was also impressive at youth level and has reached the semi-final of the 2023 Grand Prix events in Rome and Paris. Ana Belo (East Timor), Dina Pouryounes (Refugee), Ikram Dhahri (Tunisia), Ilenia Matonti (Italy), Josipa Kafadar (Canada), Maria Grippoli (Uruguay) and Oumaima El-Bouchti (Morocco) are the other competitors.
The big three here seem to be worthy favourites but taekwondo has shown it can throw up shocking results. Dincel seems to be capable of beating both Cerezo and Wongpattanakit but Cerezo will no doubt be improving, only being 20 whilst Wongpattanakit has proven pedigree. Behind them, Stojkovic has not yet translated her wins at the lower weight to her new division. Souza, Guo and Semberg seem the likeliest and a lot will depend on who gets the best draw. Souza got the big World Championship win but the form hasn’t been at the same level since.
🥇Merve Dincel 🇹🇷
🥈Adriana Cerezo 🇪🇸
🥉Panipak Wongpattanakit 🇹🇭
🥉Qing Guo 🇨🇳
Women’s Featherweight (-57kg)
Jade Jones (Great Britain) is the big name in the competition. She was the 2012 and 2016 Olympic champion. She won the world title in 2019, winning bronze in 2022 but in 2023 did win the European Games and the Grand Prix events in Rome and Paris. Winning Olympic bronze in Tokyo and also at the last two World Championships was Hatice Kubra Ilgun (Turkey). Lo-Chia Ling (Taiwan) also won a bronze in Tokyo before winning silver at the last two World Championships. The 2022 world champion Luo Zongshi (China). She won the Grand Prix Final in 2019 and 2022 and she dominated in 2022 winning three other events. Skylar Park (Canada) was a 2019 World Championship bronze medalist. She had a strong record in Grand Prix events in 2022, finishing second in Paris and third in the Grand Prix Final. In Tokyo, she beat Stacey Hymer (Australia) who actually held a 12-6 lead over her. Other Tokyo Olympians include Kimia Alizadeh (Bulgaria). She lost in the bronze medal matchup after making the semi-final. She won World Championship silver in 2017 at Lightweight after winning Olympic bronze in 2016. The current world champion at bantamweight is Nahid Kiani (Iran) but she is effective at the higher weight, winning silver in the 2023 Grand Prix events in Rome and Taiyuan. She beat Kim Yu-jin (South Korea) in the Rome semi-final and she won a bronze at the 2023 Asian Games. The other losing semi-finalist in Rome was Faith Dillon (United States) who lost in the final of the 2023 Grand Prix. Maria Clara Pacheco (Brazil) was a silver medalist at the 2023 Pan-American Games and won bronze at the 2023 World Championship. The rest of the field is made up of Chaima Toumi (Tunisia), Dominika Hronova (Czech Republic), Emmanuella Atora (Gabon) and Laetitia Aoun (Lebanon) and Miljana Reljikj (North Macedonia).
The hope is probably a final between Jones and Zongshi. Zongshi has been dominant especially in 2022 whilst Jones has been so strong historically and enjoyed a stronger 2023 than she had in recent years. Behind them, I think Kiani has looked very impressive with some big wins over the other contenders in this field and can likely pick up a medal. I also have Ling winning a medal, she also has had big results over recent years. It feels harsh to leave out Ilgun especially and it would not shock me if she medals. In the final, Jones has a win over Zongshi in 2023 but Zongshi seemed to have her number in 2022 and I think that is more likely to resume.
🥇Luo Zongshi 🇨🇳
🥈Jade Jones 🇬🇧
🥉Lo-Chia Ling 🇹🇼
🥉Nahid Kiani 🇮🇷
Women’s Welterweight (-67kg)
Ruth Gbagbi (Ivory Coast) will be looking to win her third straight Olympic medal. Both those medals were bronze and she also won a World Championship bronze in 2023. The winner of the 2023 World Championship was Magda Wiet-Henin (France). She won the 2022 Grand Prix events in Rome and Manchester before finishing third in the Grand Prix Final. The winner of the 2022 Grand Prix Final was Julyana Al-Sadeq (Jordan). She was also the silver medalist at the 2023 World Championship. Aleksandra Perisic (Serbia) won silver in 2022 but went on to take the 2023 European Games title. She beat Cecilia Castro (Spain) who had won bronze at the 2022 World Championship. Zhang Mengyu (China) is a former world champion from 2019 and won bronze in 2017. She’s also performed well in Paris, winning the Grand Prix in 2023. Sarah Chaari (Belgium) was the winner in the 2023 Grand Prix Final after reaching the final of the events in Rome and Taiyuan. She beat Elizabeth Anyanacho (Nigeria) in the semi-final who has always run into Gbagbi in continental championships. Aya Shehata (Egypt) also made a Grand Prix semi-final in Rome. The 2022 world champion misses the Olympics but silver medalist Aleksandra Perisic (Serbia) will compete. She was also the 2023 European Games champion. Caroline Santos (Brazil) has won two Pan-American Games at lightweight where she has also won two World Championship silver medals. Jemesa Landers (New Zealand), Kristina Teachout (United States), Madelyn Rodriguez (Dominican Republic), Ozoda Sobirjonova (Uzbekistan), Sasikarn Tongchan (Thailand) and Viviana Marton (Hungary) will also compete.
Again this is tough to call. It is one of the stronger African contingents led by Gbagbi, but I think her medal streak does come to an end here. Wiet-Henin will be considered the French golden girl but I think the other top girls have good enough records against her that she won’t take gold but the home crowd can roar her to the podium. Instead, I think that Perisic can take the gold, beating Chaari. The other medalist I think will be Al-Sadeq who has been strong for a while.
🥇Aleksandra Perisic 🇷🇸
🥈Sarah Chaari 🇧🇪
🥉Magda Wiet-Henin 🇫🇷
🥉Julyana Al-Sadeq 🇯🇴
Women’s Heavyweight (+67kg)
Althea Laurin (France) will be another home fighter who enters as one of the favourites. She was the -73 world champion in 2023 and won bronze in Tokyo. She has been a fixture at the strong end of Grand Prix events, including winning in Paris in 2023 and finishing second in 2022. In the 2022 final, she was beaten by Lee Da-bin (South Korea). She was the runner-up at the Tokyo Olympics and won the Grand Prix events in 2022 in both Rome and Paris. Rebecca McGowan (Great Britain) was incredibly strong in the 2023 Grand Prix events and was second in the 2023 Grand Prix Final. She was also the silver medalist in the 2023 world championship final in the -73 division. Nadia Kus (Turkey) is the current world champion and also won the 2023 European Games. She beat Svetlana Osipova (Uzbekistan) in the final, who was the 2022 world champion. Another World Championship medalist is Polina Khan (Russia) who won bronze in the 2023 World Championship in the -73 division. Another bronze medalist was Lorena Brandl (Germany) who took it at the 2022 World Championship at +73. Fatima-Ezzahra Aboufaras (Morocco) is a double World Championship quarter-finalist. Zhou Zeqi (China) won at the 2023 Asian Games. None of the other contenders have a great resume internationally. That includes Arlettys Acosta (Cuba), Astan Bathily (Ivory Coast), Fernanda Aguirre (Chile), Munira Abdusalomova (Tajikistan), Petra Stolbova (Czech Republic), Ram Abu Al-Rub (Jordan) and Venice Traill (Fiji).
This looks like one of the weaker divisions with half the competitors having not proven much at this international level. However, surprises can happen so I wouldn’t rule anyone out. Kus deserves to be the favourite after a banner 2023 and I would be surprised if anyone can beat her for gold. Da-bin had a similarly strong 2022 and has also beaten a lot of the bigger names in the last two years. I think it comes down to a final between the pair but I edge to Kus. I think Brandl, Laurin, McGowan and Osipova are the main competitors for the other medals. Brandl’s strong recent form made me really debate her but instead, I’ve stuck with McGowan and Laurin to win bronze medals.
🥇Nafia Kus 🇹🇷
🥈Lee Da-bin 🇰🇷
🥉Althea Laurin 🇫🇷
🥉Rebecca McGowan 🇬🇧
Comments