JUDO: Pareto still on fire at Cancun Grand Prix

Argentina's Olympic 48 kg gold medalist Paula Pareto

Traveling north just a couple of day after co-lighting the Olympic flame at the Opening Ceremony of the Youth Olympic Games last weekend, she won her third career IJF Grand Prix gold in the -48 kg division at the Cancun (MEX) Grand Prix.

Already the 2015 World Champion and 2016 Olympic Champion, she shows no signs of slowing down at age 32, having won the bronze medal in the 2018 Worlds.

It made sense that with only a light representation from Japan, Western Hemisphere teams would do well in Cancun, and Brazil underlined its place as the top judo nation in the West with 11 medals. Russia (six medals total), Austria (five) and Cuba (four) each won two classes. Summaries from Cancun:

IJF World Tour Grand Prix
Cancun (MEX) ~ 12-14 October 2018
(Full results here)

Men

-60 kg: 1. Tornike Tsjakadoea (NED); 2. Luka Mkheidze (FRA); 3. Lenin Preciado (ECU) and David Pulkrabek (CZE).

-66 kg: 1. Aram Grigoryan (RUS); 2. Mikhail Pulyaev (RUS); 3. Elios Manzi (ITA) and Charles Chibana (BRA).

-73 kg: 1. Tommy Macias (SWE); 2. Denis Iartcev (SWE); 3. Marcelo Contini (BRA) and Arthur Margelidon (CAN).

-81 kg: 1. Sami Chouchi (BEL); 2. Victor Penalber (BRA); 3. Frank de Wit (NED) and Tim Gramkow (GER).

-90 kg: 1. Ivan Felipe Silva Morales (CUB); 2. Marc Odenthal (GER); 3. Rafael Macedo (BRA) and Nacif Elias (LBN).

-100 kg: 1. Niiaz Bilalov (RUS); 2. Laurin Boehler (AUT); 3. Rafael Buzacarini (BRA) and Aaron Fara (AUT).

+100 kg: 1. Lukas Krpalek (CZE); 2. Andy Granda (CUB); 3. Daniel Allerstorfer (AUT) and Tamerlan Bashaev (RUS).

Women

-48 kg: 1. Paula Pareto (ARG); 2. Catarina Costa (POR); 3. Julia Figueroa (ESP) and Milica Nikolic (SRB).

-52 kg: 1. Ana Perez Box (ESP); 2. Agata Perenc (POL); 3. Joana Ramos (POR) and Evelyne Tschopp (SUI). -57 kg: 1. Rafaela Silva (BRA); 2. Jessica Klimkait (CAN); 3. Nelson Levy Timna (ISR) and Miryam Roper (PAN).

-63 kg: 1. Magdalena Krssakova (AUT); 3. Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard (CAN); 3. Amy Livesey (GBR) and Alexia Castilhos (BRA).

-70 kg: 1. Michaela Polleres (AUT); 2. Gabriella Willems (BEL); 3. Daria Pogorzelec (POL) and Kelita Zupancic (CAN).

-78 kg: 1. Rika Takayama (JPN); 2. Mayra Aguiar (BRA); 3. Kaliema Antomarchi (CUB) and Samanta Soares (BRA).

+78 kg: 1. Idalys Ortiz (CUB); 2. Maria Suelen Altheman (BRA); 3. Beatriz Souza (BRA) and Kseniia Chibisova (RUS).