Having been the dominant force on the women's circuit throughout the year, having won the Budapest, Tbilisi and Zagreb Grand Prix events, it was no surprise to see her cruise through Pool A to set up a semi-final clash with The Netherlands’ Juul Franssen.

The Dutch judoka had proved to be the surprise package of the day as she belied her world ranking of 41 to reach the quarter-finals of the competition where she won by a solitary yuko against Croatia’s Marijana Miskovic, who had knocked out the fourth seed Kathrin Unterwurzacher of Austria earlier in the day.

Franssen though would be the master of her own downfall as in trying to upset the world number one, the Dutchwoman performed an illegal move which saw her disqualified and in doing so gave Trstenjak safe passage through to the gold medal bout.

She was to face the defending champion Clarisse Agbegnenou of France, who had brushed aside competitors in her pool but was forced into a golden score round in her semi-final contest with Yarden Gerbi.

The Israeli had won the world title at the 2013 Championships in Rio de Janeiro, but Agbegnenou ended her run here with an ippon in a golden score period, after the contest had ended scoreless in normal time.

Trstenjak though had too much for the Frenchwoman in the final as she scored with a waza-ari and a yuko to comfortably seal the crown and Slovenia’s first triumph in the history of the Championships.

Bronze medals were secured by the two judokas to come through the repecharge rounds as Japan’s Miku Tashiro defeated Franssen with an ippon, while Mongolia’s Munkhzaya Tsedevsuren earned her first World Championship medal by beating Gerbi with a waza-ari.

The men’s under 81kg event got off to a stunning start as the Olympic champion Kim Jae-Bum of South Korea was dumped out by Portugal’s Carlos Luz, who swept his opponent's legs away to force him to the floor for an ippon.

Russia’s Ivan Nifontov, who earned bronze at Chelyabinsk 2014, was another early casualty but his fellow medallists from last year all reached the semi-final stage of the competition, with the reigning champion Avtandili Tchriskishvili looking in superb form.

However the Georgian’s title defence would come to an end at the hands of the 19-year-old Japanese star Takanori Nagase, who achieved a yuko and was able to maintain his narrow advantage until the end of the five minute contest.

Last year’s runner-up Antoine Valois-Fortier of Canada would also miss out on the final this year as France's 2014 bronze medallist Loic Pietri overcame him in the second semi-final with a yuko.

Nagase though would defeat the Frenchman, who had won the title in 2013, by pinning him to the mat with an osaekomi which saw him eventually be awarded an ippon by the referee.

Valois-Fortier recovered from his semi-final defeat to secure a place on the podium by beating South Korea’s Seungsu Lee with a yuko, while Brazil’s Victor Penalber beat Tchriskishvili on shido penalties to also claim bronze.

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