Teddy Riner returns to international stage: "I want to see where I stand''
Almost a year after Tokyo 2020, Teddy Riner is back on the international stage. On 10 July he will compete at the Budapest Grand Slam, an important milestone on his road to Paris 2024.
Judo
The moment judo fans have waited for has arrived.
Seven months after officially resuming training, Teddy Riner is back on the World Tour where he will compete at the Budapest Grand Slam on Sunday 10 July.
Even though it is his first international competition since the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, where he won bronze in the +100kg and gold in the mixed team event, the French athlete has set multiple goals for himself for his trip to Hungary.
‘’It's always about winning,” Riner told Olympics.com. “Now, what I'm expecting to see is where I stand in comparison to the others, to see whether what I've put in place works.
“I also want to score points. Just because there’s a guaranteed quota doesn’t mean you aren’t looking for a good position in the draw. A strong seeding may be important in order to have as much in my favour as possible at Paris 2024.”
READ MORE: Judo qualification system for Paris 2024 explained
Teddy Riner looking for a "solution against every opponent"
The Budapest Grand Slam is a milestone on the path towards the Olympic Games Paris 2024, and not only because it will represent the first time in a decade Riner won’t be wearing the golden bib of Olympic champion.
At the Budapest Grand Slam, three athletes in the top 10 will compete in the +100kg category: Rafael Silva, Gela Zaalishvili and Ushangi Kokauri.
An 11th world title may well be a season’s goal, but Riner’s place at the World Championships that take place in Uzbekistan this October depends on his performance in Budapest.
The competition will enable him to analyse the work he has been doing around the world over the past few months, including a camp in Alicante, Spain where he competed against some of the athletes he may face in Budapest.
Before that, he trained in Morocco, Mongolia, Croatia and Brazil to hone his technical craft with a plan put in place by his coach, Franck Chambily to develop new surprise elements for Paris 2024.
“In every country [I visit] I’m looking for things that could improve me technically and tactically, which is really positive.
“We work on the standing fight/ground fight connections, with the ground fighting focused on being able to score an Ippon in 30-45 seconds and my standing plan to enable me to find solutions against any opponent,” Riner explained.
Teddy Riner feels like he’s ahead of time
The plan he has set in place, which includes one camp per month in a different country, seems to be paying dividends. The athlete feels “pretty good” coming into the Budapest Grand Slam and the fact he only had a short break after Tokyo 2020 has enabled him to not waste much time.
“There were no hard times, as I didn’t really stop. Starting up with judo again was less difficult than other times. Compared to what I’ve experienced in the past, I feel like I’m ahead.
“And we’re going to stay ahead in order to get better every day,” said the athlete who began the season by winning a title at the French team championships at the end of May.
If Riner wants to improve, it is with the aim of shining at his home Olympic Games in Paris. The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is what motivates him more than anything else.
“Paris 2024 is the light at the end of the tunnel that keeps me going. It’s important to have fun when you’re trying to reach an Olympic Games. What gets me up in the morning is my desire to improve every day and surpass myself in order to be ready on D-Day.”
Riner knows exactly what he needs to do to be at his best at the time that matters: keep travelling around the world to improve during his training camps, get to his best fighting weight and continue working on every aspect of judo.
He has two years to prepare for the next Olympic Games and it all starts at the Budapest Grand Slam where the time has come for him to “test himself.”