The IBJJF Austin Winter Open 2024 took place on January 27th and 28th, 2024 and the tournament attracted quite a few top competitors despite the fact that it took place on the same weekend that the IBJJF European Championship finished. It was Mikaela Barros who managed to walk away with the most medals from the black belt divisions; a pair of default gold medals at super-heavyweight, a gold medal in the no gi absolute division, and a silver medal in the gi absolute division. The only gold medal she didn’t win came down to the fact that the middleweight gold medalist Kennedy Franklin managed to stand on top of the gi absolute podium instead.
The men’s absolute divisions saw a little more variety, as it was Yan Paiva who won the gi absolute shortly after he won the middleweight division. It was a really tough absolute bracket too, with the super-heavyweight gold medalist Felipe Costa having to settle for a bronze medal and the heavyweight winner Mateus Rodrigues taking second place. There were plenty of other top competitors winning the regular gi weight classes too, with the lightweight and light-featherweight divisions being won by Carlos Henrique and Welison Fernandes respectively. Andreza Morais and Pedro Alex also made appearances, with them both winning silver medals at women’s featherweight and men’s ultra-heavyweight.
The men’s no gi absolute division at the IBJJF Austin Winter Open 2024 was won by Gabriel Almeida, shortly after he won the heavyweight division as well. Austin Oranday took home a gold medal in the medium-heavyweight division, while David Weintraub couldn’t get a match and left with a default gold at featherweight. Carlos Henrique was the only major gi competitor to return on the second day, but he entered the middleweight division instead and ended up taking a silver medal from there.
