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At 63kg, 22-year-old Croatian, Katarina Kristo faced Slovenian, 27-year-old Andreja Leski. Kristo managed to overcome the multiple World Medallist to win her first grand slam gold.
The medals were presented by Kazakhstan Minister of Tourism & Sport, Yermek Marzhikpayev.
Kristo welcomed the enthusiasm of the crowd.
''You can see that they love judo and they are not just sitting there. They are cheering you on, even if you are not from their country. When you score, they live that moment with you and I really love to fight here,'' Kristo said.
In the 73kg final, Italian judoka Manuel Lombardo took on neutral competitor, 21-year-old Danil Lavrentev.
Lombardo caught Lavrentev by surprise, throwing him with sode-tsurikomi-goshi just six seconds in to score waza-ari. He held on to secure his 4th grand slam gold.
His medal was awarded by Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister, Galymzhan Koishybayev.
Lombardo, 25, said his popularity among judo fans in Kazakhstan was a ''strange'' but a ''good feeling''.
''I think I’m more popular in Kazakhstan than in Italy. I love Kazakhstan so it’s very nice to fight here and I'm very happy that the crowd enjoyed my judo,'' he said.
At 70kg, junior Tais Pina of Portugal put pressure on Croatian World Medallist, 22-year-old Lara Cvjetko. The 19-year-old capitalised, throwing Cvjetko for ippon with ura-nage, arriving firmly on the senior scene.
The medals were awarded by Kazakhstan Judo Federation President, Kuanyshbek Yessekeyev.
The 81kg category final saw Sharofiddin Boltaboev's comeback, where the 28-year-old took on Germany's 27-year-old Timo Cavelius. The Uzbek judoka controlled the contest and threw with a massive ura-nage for waza-ari, sealing a strong victory.
He was awarded his medal by Samruk-Kazyna CEO, Nurlan Zhakupov.
Galymzhan Koishybayev, Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister, thanked the International Judo Federation for ''its trust in Kazakhstan to hold the ranking tournament for the Olympic Games in Paris''.
''Judo is rightfully considered as the one of the most popular and spectacular forms of martial arts. This sport has a broad development across the country. Today more than 150 000 people practise judo in Kazakhstan,'' he said.
The final day of the Grand Slam will be held on Sunday.
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The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated.
The effects of the Northern Lights, which were prominently on display in the UK, were due to last through the weekend and possibly into next week.
NOAA alerted operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to take precautions.
''For most people here on planet Earth, they won’t have to do anything,'' Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, said.
The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, glow on the horizon at St. Mary's Lighthouse in Whitley Bay on the North East coast, England, Friday, May 10, 2024.Owen Humphreys/AP
Photos of the spectacular phenomenon were also captured in parts of the United States, including California, Missouri and Oregon, as well as other countries such as China, New Zealand and Australia.
The blinking lights of a plane streak through the Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, which is visible over Lake Berryessa, Calif., Saturday, May 11, 2024.Carlos Avila Gonzalez/ONLINE_YES
The Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, are seen near Nanshan scenic spot in Urumqi in northwestern China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Saturday, May 11, 2024.Chen Shuo/Xinhua
Friday's storm is the first severe geomagnetic storm watch NOAA has issued since 2005.
The most intense solar storm in recorded history, in 1859, prompted auroras in central America.
This storm poses a risk for high-voltage transmission lines for power grids, not the electrical lines ordinarily found in people’s homes, NOAA space weather forecaster Shawn Dahl said. Satellites also could be affected, which in turn could disrupt navigation and communication services on Earth.
An extreme geomagnetic storm in 2003, for example, took out power in Sweden and damaged power transformers in South Africa.
Even when the storm is over, signals between GPS satellites and ground receivers could be scrambled or lost, according to NOAA. But there are so many navigation satellites that any outages should not last long, Steenburgh noted.
The Northern Lights appear in the night sky over East Brandenburg, Friday, May 10, 2024.Patrick Pleul/(c) Copyright 2024, dpa (www.dpa.de). Alle Rechte vorbehalten
The sun has produced strong solar flares since Wednesday, resulting in at least seven outbursts of plasma. Each eruption, known as a coronal mass ejection, can contain billions of tons of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona.
The flares seem to be associated with a sunspot that’s 16 times the diametre of Earth, NOAA said. It is all part of the solar activity ramping up as the sun approaches the peak of its 11-year cycle.
NASA said the storm posed no serious threat to the seven astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The biggest concern is the increased radiation levels, and the crew could move to a better shielded part of the station if necessary, according to Steenburgh.
Increased radiation also could threaten some of NASA’s science satellites. Extremely sensitive instruments will be turned off, if necessary, to avoid damage, said Antti Pulkkinen, director of the space agency’s heliophysics science division.
Several sun-focused spacecraft are monitoring all the action.
''This is exactly the kinds of things we want to observe,'' Pulkkinen said.
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The Investigative Committee, Russia’s principal criminal investigations agency, said that six individuals rescued from the bus were in a serious condition.
One dead and seven missing following Japanese navy helicopter crash in Pacific Ocean
According to Russian news accounts, the city bus, carrying 15 passengers, breached a barrier and drove into the Moika River in central St. Petersburg. Remarkably, six occupants managed to escape the sinking vehicle.
Surveillance footage disseminated by Russian media captured the bus speeding, executing a sharp turn onto the bridge, colliding with another vehicle, and ultimately crashing through the barrier into the water.
Authorities in St. Petersburg revealed that the bus owner had incurred 23 fines for various infractions. Most of the city's bus services are operated by private companies.
The bus driver was taken into custody by police. His wife told Russian media that he was forced by managers to work that morning shift following a 20-hour workday with minimal rest.
An inquiry has been launched into potential traffic violations and concerns regarding the safety of transportation services.