CHELSIE Giles claimed a magnificent World Championship silver in the -52kg category at the World Judo Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The Coventry judoka was beaten by revered Tokyo 2020 gold medallist and now three-time World Champion Uta Abe in the final.
And Giles’ silver means she was now won World, Olympic and European medals in a glittering career.
Giles said: “I am so happy to be a World medallist. It feels like a dream. I started the day a bit slow but as the competition progressed my confidence grew, and my performances got better and better.
“To face two Olympic champions along the way shows how strong the field was. Thank you to
my coaches and team I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Abe drew first blood in the final with a waza-ari as Giles tried to find a route back into the contest with a tomoe-naga attempt.
However, Giles was unable to take the contest to golden point as Abe defended well for the remainder of the contest.
Giles beat eventual bronze medalist and current -48kg Olympic champion Distria Krasniqi from Kosovo in a dramatic semi-final as the Coventry star won in golden point with a waza-ari.
And she booked a semi-final place after seeing off Poland’s Aleksandra Kaleta with a waza-ari courtesy of an uchi-mata, before registering another uchi-mata to progress.
That came after she survived an early scare against American Katelyn Jarrell in round three and utilised her ground skills to pin her opponent for the required 20 seconds.
Giles beat China’s Liu Liping with an early ippon counter in her first contest at the tournament having been handed a bye in round one.
The 25-year-old won European gold in Sofia, Bulgaria in April earlier this year having claimed bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
