JUDO - Mikhail Igolnikov - The Prodigy

Igolnikov last competed at the Oceania Open in Perth, Australia. His journey halfway around the world to albeit a lesser event, was well rewarded as he came away with 500 points, elevating him to 11th in the World Rankings at -90kg, sitting comfortably in pole position for Russia in the Olympic qualifying zone. Whilst having a quiet year on the IJF circuit in 2019, Mikhail Igolnikov has only lost once this year, in the Dusseldorf Grand Slam, where the Russian went on to take the Bronze medal in that event. His other outing being at the teams event at the World Championships, where he won his two matches helping Russia take the Bronze medal. Aside from these IJF events, Mikhail who is according to sources, a Lieutenant in the Russian Special Forces, won the Military World Championships and led his team to the Gold medal. As he sets his sights towards Tokyo and the 2020 Olympics, hoping to emulate fellow Circassians Vladimir Nevzorov, and Beslan Mudranov who took Gold at half middleweight in the 1976 G