Kayla Harrison Wins Silver Medal, Becomes Second U.S. Player to Medal Twice at the Junior Worlds

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) - Kayla Harrison (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE) became the second U.S. player in history to earn two Junior World Championship medals when she earned a silver in the 78kg division in Paris on Sunday.  

Harrison, who won the 2008 Junior Worlds, follows in the footsteps of her Team FORCE and NYAC teammate Ronda Rousey who won the 2004 Junior Worlds and placed third in 2006 before going on to win bronze at the 2008 Olympic Games.

Harrison's finals appearance also made her the first U.S. player ever to compete in two Junior World gold medal finals.  

The reigning Senior National Champion, Harrison dominated her first three opponents of the day, winning each match by ippon (instant win).

After a first-round bye, Harrison threw Nino Odzelashvili (GEO) with an o uchi gari (inner leg throw) for a yuko (quarter-point) and ended the match with a pin in the second minute.

Harrison choked her second opponent Naranjargal Tsend-Ayush (MGL) less than a minute into the quarter-finals.

Harrison's outstanding groundwork helped her again in the semifinals when she followed a yuko lead against Ivanna Makukha (UKR) with a pin for ippon. 

In the finals, however, Harrison couldn't score against Akari Ogata (JPN) who threw Harrison with uchimatas (inner thigh throws) for back-to-back waza-ari (half-point each) scores to win the match.   

"Kayla had a great day today.  She came up short in the finals, but it is clearly a great accomplishment. Kayla was a team leader and a great role model for all these kids to follow the entire week. She carried herself like a champion in her wins and her losses and her leadership showed," said Head Coach Serge Bouyssou (Hope, R.I.)  "The USA Judo National Team FORCE program has clearly produced another great champion on and off the mat and I congratulate them all for this great achievement!"

A veteran of the 2008 Junior World Team, Kyle Vashkulat (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center) had a first round bye in the 100kg division and defeated Stefan Jursic (SRB) by a series of scores that included two yukos and two throws for waza-ari scores in just over three minutes. 

In the third round, Vashkulat was thrown by eventual silver medalist Tomasz Domanski (POL) with a drop seoi nage (dropping shoulder throw) for ippon.

Fighting up from the 78kg division where she won a bronze medal at the U.S. Open last month, Kaitlyn McKim (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center / Boulder Judo Training Center) was thrown for ippon by eventual champion Larisa Ceric (BIH).

Competing at his second Junior World Championships, Colin Robinson (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center / Boulder Judo Training Center) was thrown for waza-ari and yuko scores by Sokhrukh Kuchkarov (UZB) early in his first +100kg match before being thrown for ippon by Kuchkarov with an o soto gari (outer leg throw) counter.  

"I wish to thank everyone for all the work and support they gave toward this event. This was my first World Team appointment and I am thankful USA Judo surrounded me with a great group of people to help me especially Team Manager Corinne Shigemoto who I would like to thank for all her guidance and work," said Head Coach Bouyssou.  "I feel that if we can keep things going in this positive direction it is inevitable that World and Olympic medals will follow in the future of this great group." 

Team USA concluded the Junior World Championships with three top-seven finishes, including Harrison's silver medal as well as a fifth-place finish in the 48kg division by Katelyn Bouyssou (Hope, R.I. / NYAC / Mayo Quanchi Judo Club) and a seventh-place finish in the 55kg division by Corwin Learned (El Granada, Calif. / Cahill's Judo Academy).

"Overall, I was very pleased with all of our kids and they made me proud to be the head coach for this event. I had several compliments from people at this event about how well our kids carried themselves," Head Coach Bouyssou said.  "We won a lot of fights and in most of our losses we were in those fights so our kids were able to compete at this level and it is a reflection of how well our domestic coaches prepared our kids."

Complete results are as follows:

Men's 100kg
1. Lukas Krpalek (CZE)
2. Tomasz Domanski (POL)
3. Tobias Mol (NED)
3. Alejandro San Martin (ESP)
5. Elmar Gasimov (AZE)
5. Anton Martsulevich (BLR)
7. Clement Delvert (FRA)
7. Feyyaz Yazici (TUR)

Also Competed: Kyle Vashkulat (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center), 1-1

Men's +100kg
1. Eun-Saem Cho (KOR)
2. Magomed Nazhmudinov (RUS)
3. Andre Breitbarth (GER)
3. Domenico Di Guida (ITA)
5. Oleksandr Sizov (UKR)
5. Ryuta Toyoda (JPN)
7. Sokhrukh Kuchkarov (UZB)
7. Juhan Mettis (EST)

Also Competed: Colin Robinson (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center / Boulder Judo Training Center), 0-1

Women's 78kg
1. Akari Ogata (JPN)
2. Kayla Harrison (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE)
3. Mayra Aguiar (BRA)
3. Luise Malzahn (GER)
5. Regina Kapaeva (RUS)
5. Ivanna Makukha (UKR)
7. Ha-Na Shim (KOR)
7. Naranjargal Tsend-Ayush (MGL)

Women's +78kg
1. Larisa Ceric (BIH)
2. Iryna Kindzerska (UKR)
3. Sandra Jablonskyte (LTU)
3. Kanae Yamabe (JPN)
5. Sara Alvarez (ESP)
5. Aurore Quintin (FRA)
7. Jasmin Kuelbs (GER)
7. Maria Trefilova (RUS)

Also Competed: Kaitlyn McKim (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center / Boulder Judo Training Center), 0-1

Tags: Colin Robinson, Colin Robinson, Kaitlyn McKim, Kayla Harrison, Kyle Vashkulat, Ronda Rousey, Serge Bouyssou II