The purpose of this study was to identify recent trends in judo competition through an analysis of the 2003, 2007, and 2011 World Championships. From the official results of the events, the rates of ippon, overtime contests, winning causes, and score-earning nage-waza were analyzed. For the results of the analysis, the ratio of ippon was highest in 2003 for both men and women, while the over-time ratio was the lowest in the same year for both, but increased in the latter tournaments. For all of the events, nage-waza was the most common winning cause in each of the tournaments for both sexes, holding a 77% winning ratio in the 2007 World Championships for men. For both sexes, there was an increase in the usage of leg-grabbing techniques in 2007 before decreasing in 2011, which may have been largely the result of new rules for judging.
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