Carlos Alcaraz congratulates judo star Francisco Garrigos on getting Spain up and running at Paris Olympics with first medal

Carlos Alcaraz congratulated Francisco Garrigos for opening Spain's account at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Spanish Judoka won the bronze medal in the men's 60 kg event.

Garrigos, who won the gold medal at the 2023 World Judo Championships, faced 2024 champion Giorgi Sardalashvilli from Georgia in the bronze medal match at the Pais Olympics. The two world champions butted heads, with the Spaniard coming out on top to clinch the bronze medal and win Spain's first medal of the quadrennial event.

He took to Instagram to announce his achievement:

Alcaraz, who is also competing in the marquee event, took to Instagram to congratulate his compatriot. He shared Garrgios' post on his story, accompanying it with a short message.

"First medal🇪🇸!! Congratulations @frangarrigos1❤ Vamos!!!," a translated version of Alcaraz's story.

via Alcaraz's Insatgram stories

Carlos Alcaraz, the World No. 3, is making his Olympic debut in Paris. He is competing in the singles as well as doubles, for which he has teamed up with 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal.

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Carlos Alcaraz has smooth sailing in his opening rounds in singles and doubles at the 2024 Paris Olympics

Carlos Alcaraz with his doubles partner Rafael Nadal (Image source: GETTY)

Carlos Alcaraz is riding high on confidence after clinching back-to-back Grand Slams and conquering the Channel Slam in the process. Though he had a slow start to the season, the Spaniard bounced back as the season progressed. His first title of the season came at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, following which he won the French Open and defended his title successfully at Wimbledon.

The youngster is seeded second at the Olympics and is placed in the bottom half of the draw alongside Daniil Medvedev, Casper Ruud, Tommy Paul, and others.

The Spaniard kicked off his campaign by decimating Lebanon's Hady Habib in just an hour and 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, the Spanish duo of Alcaraz and Nadal ousted the sixth seeds Andres Molteni and Maximo Gonzales in their doubles opening round. They won the match 7-6(4), 6-4, in an hour and 47 minutes. They will face the Dutch duo of Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof next.

Rafael Nadal is also competing in singles but is in the top half of the draw, which is headlined by top seed Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, and Taylor Fritz among others. The two-time gold medalist kicked off his singles run with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 topsy-turvy win against Hungary's Marton Fucsovics and will face longtime rival Djokovic next.