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100 Judoka, 100 Top Lists,
Raz Hershko of Israel, world number one at +78kg and Olympic silver medallist, 100Judo graphic

Raz Hershko refused to fit the heavyweight mould

Raz Hershko is back at the top of the heavyweight world. The IJF World Ranking List of 14 September 2026, the first after the Grand Slam in Budapest, puts the Israeli first at +78kg with 5,610 points, ahead of Lea Fontaine of France, who led the previous list with 5,134. Hershko earned the move in the Budapest final, where she waited for Celia Cancan to open up and threw her with harai goshi for ippon. It was her seventh Grand Slam title and her third win of the season after the Grand Slam in Tbilisi and the Grand Prix in Linz.

A club in Netanya

Born in Netanya on 19 June 1998, Hershko started judo at the age of four in the club her uncle Shany Hershko founded in 1991. She also played basketball before choosing judo at twelve, and she still represents Meitav Netanya. Shany only became her coach when she joined the national team, and both have always kept the roles apart: on the mat he is the coach, and at family occasions judo is not the main subject.

The heavyweight division did not suit her at first. Facing older and heavier women in the senior team, she felt like a child, and her uncle told her not to match them power for power but to be different, explosive, fast and dynamic. Hershko has also spoken about the battles she fought off the mat while growing up, and about a family that, in her words, allowed her to be herself completely.

The results followed that approach. European cadet champion in 2015, she took mixed team bronze at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, world bronze in Doha in 2023, European silver in 2022, 2023 and 2025 and European gold in 2024 and 2026. In Paris in 2024 she reached the Olympic final and came home with silver. Her JudoInside record shows she already led the world ranking for long spells between 2022 and 2024.

The ranking now takes her to the World Championships in Baku in October as the athlete everyone at +78kg has to beat. A world title is the one major prize still missing from her collection.