University of Bath graduate wins Mexico's first silver medal at Paris Olympics in judo

A graduate from the University of Bath has won Mexico’s first silver medal in the Olympic Games at Paris.

Prisca Awiti-Alcaraz lost out to Slovenia’s Andreja Leski in the final of the women’s -63kg judo competition on Tuesday 30 July.

The judoka is a former sporting scholar who trained in judo at the institution from 2015 before leaving for Mexico seven years later.

She placed 17th on her Olympics debut in Tokyo three years ago and Adam Hall, High Performance Judo Coach at the university, said her perfomance was inspired.

He said: "What an outstanding performance from Prisca.

"We’ve always known she had it in her to perform at the very highest level and today was the perfect day to produce that quality and consistency in her performances.

"She has worked so hard for this achievement and all of us here at Team Bath are incredibly proud – congratulations to Prisca, the Mexican Judo federation and Enfield Judo Club where she started this journey.”

The 28-year-old defeated Croatia’s Katarina Kristo in the semi-final.

In the quarter-final, she beat Austrian Lubjana Piovesana - who used to represent Great Britain until 2021 and is currently ranked fourth in the world.

Awiti-Alcaraz also beat the current world championship silver medallist Angelika Szymanska in the round of 16 after overcoming Nigara Shaheen from the Refugee Olympic Team.

She earned automatic qualification for Paris by ranking in the world’s top 20 in the women’s -63kg category after an impressive two years on the international circuit.

During this time, she won 10 medals - including three gold -and placed fifth at the 2023 World Championships in Doha.

She was coached by the late Juergen Klinger and Tom Reed during her time at the university.