French judoka Kaïla Issoufi has reached the -78 kg final at the Baku World Championships, guaranteeing her a medal. Competing in her first World Championships, the 25-year-old from Mayotte is the first French athlete to make it to a final in the event’s history. She defeated the world number one, German Olek Anna Monta, with a yuko on the gong in the semifinals. She will now face the 22-year-old Emirati Yelyzateva Lytvynenko, who has been in excellent form this year, earning four medals, including two Grand Slam titles. Issoufi’s success marks a significant improvement for the French team, which has so far been considered underperforming. This will be the third medal for France in the competition, following the bronze medals won by Shirine Boukli (-48 kg) and Dayyan Boulemtafes (-73 kg). Earlier in the day, another French judoka, Audrey Tcheuméo, was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Lytvynenko. Despite winning the first round with a waza-ari, Tcheuméo, 36, faced strict refereeing that led to two penalties for both athletes within a minute. After an attack from Lytvynenko, Tcheuméo received a yuko but attempted to defend it by touching her opponent’s leg, a prohibited move, resulting in a third penalty and disqualification after just 1 minute and 49 seconds. On her path to the final, Issoufi defeated four opponents, including the world number one. She won her first two matches with ippon—against the Lithuanian Migle Julija Dudenate and the Ukrainian Anna Kazakova. In the quarterfinals, she faced the Japanese Kurena Ikeda, world number four, whom she had previously defeated in Lausanne in August. She repeated her victory in the golden score after 5 minutes and 3 seconds. In the semifinals, she once again beat Anna Monta Olek, the reigning world silver medalist, with a yuko. Lytvynenko had already eliminated Tcheuméo, who was crowned world champion in 2011 and is still competing at 36. The Emirati won the match with an ippon after just 1 minute and 49 seconds. Before that, Tcheuméo had defeated the British Emma Reid with a waza-ari, but the match ended quickly after that. On the men’s side, the French team did not qualify any athletes for the -100 kg and +100 kg categories, and no Frenchman won a medal in the competition.