Hifumi Abe takes a fifth world title in Baku; Uta Abe takes a sixth

Hifumi Abe won a fifth men's 66-kilogram world title in Baku on Monday, and his sister Uta won a sixth women's 52-kilogram title on the same day. He is 29. She is 26. Both finals were against Spanish judoka. He beat David Garcia Torne by ippon. She beat Ariane Toro Soler when Toro Soler collected a third penalty after seven and a half minutes.

Hifumi, already a back-to-back Olympic champion, called it the toughest world championship he had been through. He had five matches, several of them long, and he needed a win over compatriot Takeshi Takeoka in the semi-final before the final. "It was a day that required great patience," he said. "The battles were exhausting, but I'm glad I was able to secure the win. The priority was simply not to lose." Takeoka then beat Moldova's Denis Vieru in the bronze playoff, so Japan left the 66kg mat with gold and bronze.

Uta's final was a clock, not a throw

Uta's gold did not come by a clean throw in ordinary time. The International Judo Federation's account of the 52kg final says seven and a half minutes passed before Toro Soler gave up the third penalty. Under current rules a third penalty ends the contest. Uta said afterwards that she had known she needed to attack, to keep moving forward, and to impose her judo. She also said Baku is a city where she feels support, at Grand Slams and at world championships, and that the support is a practical strength. "When I won my first titles, I was younger and everything felt new," she said. "Today, I have much more experience and I have learnt a lot along the way."

A sixth world title at 26 is a count very few judoka reach, and fewer still reach with an Olympic gold already in the case. The Abe household now holds eleven world titles between two siblings, five and six, won in the same hall on the same afternoon. Japan has produced sibling champions before. It has not often produced them on one card, against the same country, in finals decided by different means: one ippon, one penalty count.

What the Spanish pair took home

Garcia Torne leaves with silver in the men's 66kg. Toro Soler leaves with her first world medal, a silver, after a final the federation described as closer than Uta would have liked. Spain also had Ayumi Leiva Sanchez in the 52kg bronze round, against Mongolia's Uranzaya Bayanmunkh, and the other bronze went through Germany's Mascha Ballhaus and Italy's Odette Giuffrida. The Spanish entry in both Abe finals is the detail that makes the afternoon a single story rather than two. One programme put two finalists on the same podium session, and both lost to the same family.

Hifumi's path was the harder athletic load. Five matches, a teammate in the semi-final, then a final. An all-Japanese semi-final means the gold was already staying in Japan if he or Takeoka won the last, and the bronze fight then gave the loser a second chance against Vieru. He took the gold. Takeoka took the bronze. The selection problem that fight creates, two Japanese 66kg fighters at the top of the same world draw, is a problem coaches prefer to have.

A city that already knows this team

Baku has hosted Grand Slams often enough that Uta could talk about the crowd as a known quantity. The Crystal Hall, built for the 2012 Eurovision, is the room these championships have used. For a Japanese pair who have spent a decade on the circuit, a fifth and a sixth title in that room is a census of a career, not a debut. Hifumi's own summary was narrower than the medal count. He did not talk about history. He talked about not losing, and about patience. That is the sentence worth keeping from Monday, because a fighter who has five world titles and two Olympic golds still described the day as the hardest of the set. The next major on his calendar is not another world championship. It is the long run toward the Games, with Takeoka now on the same national podium and Garcia Torne a final he has already solved once.