Crockett, who won a bronze medal at London 2012, came out on top in his battle with Russia's Malik Kurbanov in the men's under 90 kilogram B3 class.

"It [the gold-medal match] went exactly how I needed it to go," said 23-year-old Crockett, born with Leber optic atrophy, a degenerative disease that causes severe loss of vision.

"We had a game plan from day one.

"Before I even stepped on the mat, we had a game plan."

"I trusted in my coaches, and my coaches trusted in my ability.

"It ended up perfect."

The two-day Championships featured competitors from 37 countries and the winners of each category automatically secured places at Rio 2016. 

Three of those spots were claimed by judoka from Ukraine and all were in the female events.

Natalyia Nikolaychyk defeated Germany's Ramona Brussig in the under 52kg class, while under 57kg honours went to Inna Cherniak following victory over Azerbaijan's Sabina Abdullayeva.

Iryna Husieva completed the gold medal haul with her win over Cuban Dalidaivis Rodriguez Clark in the under 63kg class.

London 2012 bronze medal winner Dartanyon Crockett powered his way to a world title on home soil in Colorado ©Getty Images



China claimed two of the other three gold medals on offer in the women's events.

In the lightest category, Li Liqing was crowned under 48kg world champion with victory over Carmen Brussig of Germany, while Russian Irina Kalyanova was had to settle for silver when she faced Yuan Yanping in the over 70kg final.

Hungarian Nikolett Szabo reversed the tide by denying China a third gold after defeating Zhou Qian in the under 70kg decider.

Back in the men's division, Azerbaijan emerged as the top nation by providing two world champions.

In the under 66kg B3 gold medal match Bayram Mustafayev had too much for Uzbekistan's Utkirjon Nigmatov and it was a similar in the under 73kg B2 decider as Ramil Gasimov took care of Serhii Kotenko.

Uzbekistan celebrated the crowning of one world champion, however, when Adiljan Tulendbaev secured victory in the over 100kg B3 class defeating Cuba's Yangaliny Jimenez Dominguez in the final.

Russia was not to be denied when Abdula Kuramagomedov saw off another Uzbekh to take under 100kg B2 gold in the form of Shirin Sharipov.

In the under 81kg B3 decider it was Mexico's Eduardo Avila Sanchez who emerged with gold as he defeated Olexandr Kosinov.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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