Donohue opptimistic ahead of Judo 2020

GB won one medal – Nekoda Smythe-Davis' silver in the lightweight 57kg – which represents a fall from the two that they won at last year's competition.

But Donohue was keen to stress that the standard his athletes displayed has increased significantly in the intervening year, something that certainly bodes well for the future.

"The performances across the team have been much higher at this championships than they were at last year's championships, and that shows that we are making really good progression through the cycle towards 2020, and potentially beyond as well,” he said.

"For us to go to a World Championships, if we can win one or two medals, we've done really well.

"I'm confident that we can do that at every worlds - at some point we'll hit a little bit more than that, I'm confident that that will happen in the not too distant future.

"It doesn't feel like we're out of our depth any more. When you arrive at that level it gives the athletes confidence as well that they can perform in this environment. It will be the same feeling when we get to Tokyo 2020.”

In addition to Smythe-Davis' silver, there were fifth-place finishes for Sarah Adlington and Jemima Yeats-Brown, the latter on her competition debut.

And Donohue cited these results as further evidence for the promising status of British Judo, but saved special praise for GB's silver medallist at the championships.

"For me Nekoda [Smythe-Davis] is an exceptional athlete,” he continued.

"She came into these championships in mixed form. She started the year off very well in Paris and the Dusseldorf grand-slam but went out in the first round of the European Championships. She'd not had a lot of wins under her belt since then.

"But her preparation had gone really well, she's a high-level performer. I'd class her as a super-elite athlete, simply because when it really counts she can turn it on and perform.

"Very few athletes medal back-to-back at world championships, and she's done that now. It bodes well, she's making those little steps towards Tokyo."

Sportsbeat 2018