Japan's Kaju Haruka defended her -63 kg title and Georgia's Grigalashvili Tato won a fourth world title at -81 kg as the 2026 Baku World Championships reached the halfway point on 7 October.
Women's -63 kg: Kaju's 40th successive win
In the final Kaju met Kerem Primo of Israel, scoring a yuko with a seoi-otoshi and then working into ne-waza. Primo escaped the first hold, but Kaju found a new position and this time there was no escape. The International Judo Federation noted it as her second consecutive world title and a 40th contest won in a row.
Primo, in her first senior world final block, took silver, with Renata Zachova of the Czech Republic and Enkhriilen Lkhagvatogoo of Mongolia sharing bronze.
Men's -81 kg: a fourth title for Grigalashvili
The -81 kg final between Grigalashvili and Azerbaijan's TCKAEV Zelim stretched deep into golden score before Grigalashvili found the decisive counter for a waza-ari and a fourth world title, having already been a three-time champion.
Azerbaijan also took silver through TCKAEV and bronze through Omar RAJABLI, with SIMIN Mihajlo of Serbia taking the other bronze. Hong Kong, China's Lee Kwok Wing fought in this category earlier the same day, losing his round-of-64 contest to Korea's SIM Jaeyun by ippon.
Halfway
Day four brought the individual championships to their halfway point. The individual events run from 4 to 10 October, with the mixed team event on 11 October.