Amy Platten shook off a golden score semi-final defeat to claim Commonwealth Games bronze.
The former St Albans Girls' School pupil had missed out on the chance to fight for gold when she lost to South Africa's Michaela Whitebooi in the last four, the eventual gold medallist scoring with a submission move in extra time.
But that was all forgotten just a few hours later, Platten storming to the 48kg category bronze by beating Malawian Harriet Bonface in just 14 seconds.
"I don’t think it’s sunk in yet, it was so quick," she said. "I was so hyped up for it as we had such a long gap between the preliminaries.
"I was like, ‘you know what, don’t over think it, just get your grip, come in and throw her’, so I’m really happy.
"In judo, you can’t predict anything that’s going to happen. You have a bit of a game plan but it’s so unpredictable in this sport.
"I was really gutted [with the loss in the semi-final] as I really came here thinking I could win it.
"I just had to go for it again, not overthink things and block those doubts out.”
Platten welcomed the vocal backing she received from the crowd at the Coventry Arena, using the atmosphere to her advantage rather than shrinking under the pressure.
The 21-year-old said: "My dad spoke to me about it before and said you need to prepare for that crowd because it’s going to be loud and you don’t want to let it fluster you.
"I just told myself to use that crowd, use it as fuel to fire me and it genuinely did. I got chills before going on and I thought, ‘this is mine’, no one can take this away from me.
"This has only given me a massive confidence boost and it’s just told me that I can do this.
"I’m excited now for the next two years. I can buckle down and concentrate on Paris, not have any other distractions and just have full focus for the Olympics."
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