Wagner faced reigning world champion France's Madeleine Malonga in the final as the world number three faced the top ranked judoka in the world.

Despite Malonga's difficult start to the tournament, she showed what she was capable of in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

Wagner's win in the semi-finals against Japan's Mami Umeki ensured she would win her first World Championships medal at senior level.

Both were fiery from the start and took the bout to golden score - although the German was far more proactive in trying to topple the Frenchwoman.

After more than 30 seconds in golden score, Wagner finally got the breakthrough, scoring with the uchi-mata to win gold.

In the bronze medal matches, Umeki completed her collection of World Championship medals by defeating Anastasiya Turchyn.

Umeki, who won gold in 2015 and silver in 2017, made it bronze this year after taking advantage of a mistake from the Ukrainian to score a waza-ari, before finishing the bout in just over two minutes with an ippon when she held Turchyn down for the kesa-gatame.

Dutch judokas Marhinde Verkerk and Guusje Steenhuis met in the other match, with the former competing in her final World Championships.

Steenhuis took an early lead with a waza-ari with a beautiful switch and looked in control as the veteran Verkerk pushed desperately for a breakthrough - however it would not be the happy ending to her career.

Both competitors hugged after their 15th bout against each other, with Steenhuis winning the other bronze medal.

Following the women's events, Portugal's Jorge Fonseca successfully defended his men's under-100kg title with an ippon win over underdog Aleksandar Kukolj of Serbia.

Fonseca looked dominant following a minor scare in his opening bout and was the clear favourite heading into the gold medal match.

Meanwhile, Kukolj was fighting at a heavier weight than before - moving up from the under-90kg.

He knocked out a series of top challengers on his way to the final including world number one Varlam Liparteliani who had to compete for the bronze.

A fiery bout throughout, Fonseca finally got the waza-ari to put him ahead and quickly finished the tie with a kouchi take down after pulling off a dummy on Kukolj who was chasing a point.

Georgia claimed both bronze medals, with young and old sharing the spot on the podium.

Liparteliani claimed the bronze medal after taking advantage of a seoi-nage attempt from opponent Michael Korrel of The Netherlands to drag him through for a yoko-otoshi and a hold down to get the ippon.

He was followed by 19-year-old Ilia Sulamanidze who scored a waza-ari against Shady El Nahas of Canada in golden score after a couple of points were chalked off by judges on both sides.