Highly Anticipated Championships for Canadian Seniors
This weekend, Canada’s senior judokas will strive to emulate their cadet and junior counterparts, who captured a host of medals on the opening weekend of the PanAmerican-Oceania Championships in Calgary. Starting Friday at the WinSport Complex, Canada will be represented by eighteen senior-level athletes aiming to clinch the titles in their respective categories.
On the first weekend of competition, Canada earned a total of 21 medals, including seven gold. Leanna Au and Yehor Paladii claimed the titles at the cadet level, while Charlize-Isabelle Medillo, Evelyn Beaton, Laurence Biron, Jumber Meladze and John Jr Messe A Bessong did the same in the junior category.
Beaton and Biron will attempt to repeat the feat on Friday, as they will also be competing at the senior level.
“Our Canadians are ready, and we hope to see many spectators cheering them on, here on home turf! The organizing committee did a remarkable job, and the site looks fantastic. Everything is in place to make it a historic Olympic qualification event,” said Nicolas Gill, CEO and High Performance Director of Judo Canada.
During the tournament, which is an important qualification event for the Paris Olympic Games in July 2024, the eighteen senior athletes will be coached by Janusz Pawlowski, Antoine Valois-Fortier and Sasha Mehmedovic.
The Canadian delegation will be led by Olympic medallist Jessica Klimkait, Olympians Arthur Margelidon, Antoine Bouchard, Kyle Reyes and Shady ElNahas, and reigning under-57 kg world champion Christa Deguchi.
Women – Senior
| -48 kg | Kimiko Kamstra | British Columbia |
| -52 kg | Kelly Deguchi | Alberta |
| -52 kg | Evelyn Beaton | Alberta |
| -57 kg | Christa Deguchi | Alberta |
| -57 kg | Jessica Klimkait | Ontario |
| -63 kg | Isabelle Harris | Quebec |
| -70 kg | Alexandria Lefort | Ontario |
| -70 kg | Laurence Biron | Quebec |
| -78 kg | Coralie Godbout | Quebec |
Men – Senior
| -66 kg | Julien Frascadore | Quebec |
| -73 kg | Arthur Margelidon | Quebec |
| -73 kg | Antoine Bouchard | Quebec |
| -81 kg | François Gauthier-Drapeau | Quebec |
| -90 kg | Louis Krieber-Gagnon | Quebec |
| -90 kg | Alexandre Arencibia | Quebec |
| -100 kg | Kyle Reyes | Ontario |
| -100 kg | Shady ElNahas | Ontario |
| +100 kg | Marc Deschênes | Quebec |
For more information on the 2023 PanAmerican-Oceania Championships, click here.
The competitions will be live streamed on judocanada.tv.