The Little Prince of French Karate is back on his homeland. Less than three months after winning the World title at just 21, Steven Da Costa (-67 kg) is ready to fire in 2019.

Current n°3 in the Olympic ranking, he knows that the road to Tokyo is still a long way. He moves on with the Paris Open - Premier League (January 25-27), which he won last year. Words of a World champion...

By Ludovic Mauchien / Photos : Kphotos

The future was promised to him. He conjugated his story at the present tense in Madrid last November. At the end of a great final against Vinicius Figueira, the most beautiful and the craziest one of this 24th edition, Steven Da Costa was crowned World champion of -67 kg !

Souvenirs... The French and the Brazilian fighters have never met. They do not know each other well enough to anticipate the traps of each one. The first trapped is Da Costa. He is quickly led 3-0. It’s time for fundamentals, for specials. Sweep or Ura Mawashi ?... Sweep : 3-3. Did Steven Da Costa do the hardest thing in leveling the score ? Has he taken the ascendancy to Figueira ? The answer does not take long : Mawashi Chudan from Figueira, 5-3 for him. The balance of mind power is once more reversed ? Niet ! Da Costa releases his « very special » : Ura Mawashi, 6-5. He is World champion at only 21 years old !

It is therefore as World champion that Steven Da Costa attacks the long way to the Tokyo Olympics. It is also, thanks to points earned in Spain, as N°3 in the Olympic ranking, in ambush behind... Vinicius Figueira, 2^nd (see below).

The points will count 100% only from next April and the Rabat Premier League. But, it is well known, all that is taken is no longer to take. And Steven Da Costa is determined not to leave much to others. World champion, that’s good, but two-time World champion and Olympic gold medallist, that’s better...

Three months later, what is the feeling of being World champion ?

It's still the same feeling as the next day or two days later (he laughs). I'm really happy, of course. I realize maybe a little more but... That’s about it. Nothing has changed. I am still the same person.

If I tell you Madrid 2018, what does immediately come to your mind ?

The final. Not a particular action or moment, the whole finale ! It made me sweat (he laughs).

What made the difference that day ?

I think it's my state of mind, my spirit.

Do you think you are mentally stronger since then ?

Hummm... No stronger but... I really wanted to win, I was very determined and it paid off. It's up to me to try to be in the same state of mind at each competition.

« TO BE IN THE SAME STATE OF MIND AT EACH COMPETITION »

What feeling prevailed in the wake of the Worlds : that of emptyness, because you had fulfilled your goal, or the desire to win another title ?

The desire to win another one, of course ! A goal has been achieved. There are new ones. Now, I move on to something else. The story keeps going on. In the more or less long term, my goal is Tokyo. But, first, there are all the competitions of preparation, that start with the Paris Open.

In what state of mind do you approach this Open ?

With the Olympics coming, all the Premier League are necessarily goals. Being World champion gave me a head start but you have to keep it. If I do not win anything, I'll lose it quickly. And, it is Paris ! It's at home. But it's also my first individual competition since the Worlds. I will have to get back in and see where I am in terms of Karate.

Do you think your opponents will have a different look at you ?

I do not think so, we already knew each other well. We all know each other ! It will not change anything.

You all know each other almost by heart. How handle with it ?

After a while, it becomes a little « pain in the ass » to often fight the same people. But it is like that. We know it. Everyone has to make the difference. I work on both my strengths while preparing new things.

What have you been doing since Madrid ?

I took a little rest in the wake. I did not totally stop. I trained twice a week. I was also asked by the media and for receptions. I started training hard again something like 2 or3 weeks after. Since then, my only days off were Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

THE RANKING

There are now 2 rankings, the world and the Olympic ones. For the latter, the -60 kg and -67 kg are mixed, so the performances at the World championships were crucial for now. Thus, the Olympic n°1, Italy’s Crescenzo, winner in -60 kg, does not appear in the 1st five of the World ranking. On his side, Burak Uygur, the two-times European champion but eliminated in the 2nd round in Madrid, World n°2, does not (yet) appear in the Olympic ranking.

Finalists in the -67 kg, France’s Steven Da Costa and Brazil’s Vinicius Figueira have made a nice shot. Already well ranked, they respectively scored 1275 and 905 in Madrid. They are 2nd and 3rd in the Olympic ranking with... 15 points of difference.

Memo.

 Points. 100 (1st), 70 (2nd), 40 (3rd), 30 (5th), 20 (7th), 10 (9th), 5 (11th-13th), 3 (15th-33rd). Match won : 10. Participation : 5.

Coefficients. 12 for the World championship, 6 for continental championships and Premier League, 3 for Series A and Youth League.

World Ranking (January21)

-67 kg

1st : Vinicius Figueira (6380 points)

2^nd : Burak Uygur (5377)

3rd : Steven Da Costa (5132)

4th : Ali Elsawy (3717)

5th : Hiroto Shinohara (3482)

-60 kg

1st : Eray Samdan (6055 points)

2^nd : Sadriddin Saymatov (5872)

3rd : Angelo Crescenzo (5642)

4th : Douglas Brose (4137)

Olympic ranking

1st : Angelo Crescenzo (2700 points)

2^nd : Vinicius Figueira (2625)

3rd : Steven Da Costa (2610)

4th : Abdel Rahman Almasatfa (2227)

5th : Abdessalam Ameknassi (2190)