ST HELENS judo ace Lucy Renshall has been on the mat today going for Paris 2024 Olympic Games glory.
But her dreams are over for another year, bowing out in the round of 16 in the women’s -63kg category.
First up, she defeated Australia’s Katharina Haecker 11-1 with a golden score.
The contest went to sudden death overtime and Renshall scored the winning ippon to end the contest against the fifth seed after 7mins 06secs.
Haeker led after 70 seconds thanks to a waza-ari, but the SKK Judo Club star levelled matters 32 seconds later.
However, she lost her second contest to Austria’s Lubjana Piovesana 1-0 after her opponent pulled off a tani-otoshi throw after 4mins 34secs in another close contest that went to golden score.
> READ: What Lucy Renshall is saying about her Paris 2024 Olympic Games judo performance
For the 28-year-old from Eccleston it was her second Olympic Games - but the first time she will have had the full experience after competing in Tokyo in the Covid-delayed event of three years ago.
Renshall, who trains at the British Judo Centre of Excellence in Walsall, collected the Sportsperson of the Year title in December's Pride of St Helens Awards.
She started the sport as an eight-year-old with the SKK Judo Club in Earlestown and is a four-time British Champion, a European Championship bronze medallist and six-time Grand Slam Champion.
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