Gold at Edmonton at International Judo Champs U18

“My goal was to get close to my opponent to throw him but since he knew what my moves are and what I like to do, it was extremely hard to catch him. I had one millisecond of being as close as I can to him and I caught him for a score. After that, my game plan was to run out the clock. It went off and so, I won,” Johnson said.

He took down competitors Braydin Nguyen, Li Eldon and Kim Aden to advance to the final.

In February, Johnson won a gold medal at the Matsumae Cup in Vejie, Denmark. He also competed in the Czech Republic.

“It was extremely hard fighting in Europe. European Judo is hard to fight since they’re so strong and technically good but if you know how to work around that you should be able to win,” Johnson said. “The year for me competition-wise is going absolutely amazing. I’ve been undefeated in under-18 60kg for five and a half months. I won my first ever European medal. I feel like everything is coming together this year.”