Winter Signal in Baku: When Two Winners Turned into Olympic Front-Runners

On 17 February 2024 the Grand Slam in Baku felt like an ordinary stop on the IJF World Tour. In hindsight it was a moment when two athletes quietly moved ahead: Hidayat Heydarov and Barbara Matić.

Heydarov delivered on home soil, claiming his third Grand Slam Baku crown and fighting with a new calmness. His CV—European cadet titles, junior European victories, World junior champion in 2017, four European senior titles and three world bronzes—explains why his performance carried weight beyond a single tournament.

Matić approached the day with the composed efficiency of a seasoned champion. Already world champion in 2021 and 2022, she controlled grips and transitions and pressed forward with purpose in Baku, sharpening the elements that would later matter most.

Other names from that weekend—Christa Deguchi and Diyora Keldiyorova among them—also translated Grand Slam success into Olympic medals months later. Looking back, the 2024 Grand Slam in Baku reads like more than a rehearsal: it was a place where momentum took hold and where two future Olympic champions began to pull ahead.