Francois Gauthier-Drapeau of Alma,. Quebec won the gold medal in the men’s 81 kilogram weight class at the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam of Judo on Friday. For Gautier-Drapeau, it was his 11th career grand slam medal and second career gold medal. He previously won the gold medal at the 2025 Paris Grand Slam this past February.
Gauthier-Drapeau won Pool A. He defeated Ramon Hernandez Jr. of the United States, Shinebayar Oyunchimeg of Mongolia, and Georgi Gramatikov of Bulgaria. He then beat Victor Sterpu of Macedonia in the semifinals, and Abdul-Kerim Tasuev of Russia in the gold medal match. Sterpu and Sunatullo Musoev of Tajikistan shared the bronze medal.
With the gold medal in Abu Dhabi, Gauthier-Drapeau moves into second in the world in the men’s 81 kilogram weight class with 4876 points. The world number one at the moment is Timur Arbuzov of Russia with 5955 points. Arbuzov won the gold medal this past year at the World Judo Championships in Budapest. At the time, Arbuzov was representing the International Judo Federation. It was a disappointing World Judo Championship for Gauthier-Drapeau, as he lost his round of 32 match to Zaur Dvalashvili of Georgia. The gold medal for Gauthier-Drapeau will give him confidence as he prepares for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
