This article is part of our week of ADCC 2022 coverage. To get live results, play by play, and commentary, we’ll have a live updates article running all weekend.
Carina Santi has unfortunately been forced to withdraw from the upcoming 2022 ADCC World Championships and she’s just been replaced by Elisabeth Clay, who will now be making her debut at the event. This isn’t the first time that the competitor list has been changed due to an athlete suffering an injury and it likely won’t be the last as we come within four weeks of ADCC 2022 taking place. As with any tournament, the full competitor list for ADCC 2022 is always subject to change up to the very last minute and with almost a hundred athletes competing there is a lot of room for unforeseen circumstances.
Carina Santi was one of a handful of women who were given an invite to ADCC 2022 and rightfully so, as she reached the podium on her very first attempt in 2019. Santi had already been incredibly successful on the IBJJF circuit when she made her ADCC debut, and she managed to make it all the way to the final of the over 60kg division before being unable to stop Gabi Garcia from claiming her fourth ADCC world championship. Given that Garcia was the only woman who could put an end to Santi’s run last time around, she was sure to be one of the top seeds for her weightclass this time around.
While Elisabeth Clay was not among the women originally given an invite for ADCC 2022, many fans thought she would be prior to them being announced. For good reason too, as Clay has managed to win double gold at several big IBJJF tournaments by submitting every single opponent she faced along the way. Clay didn’t just sit around and wait for an invite either, she attempted to win her place at ADCC 2022 by competing in the North American trials but narrowly missed out on the only spot available when she lost to the eventual winner Amy Campo in the semi-finals.
The news that Elisabeth Clay would be making her debut at ADCC 2022 in place of Carina Santi was announced in a post to the promotion’s official Instagram account:
