Montreal, October 15, 2016 – Jessica Klimkait (Under 57 kg) delivered an outstanding performance in the European Open of Glasgow, Great Britain, this Saturday, finishing the competition on the first step of the podium. Meanwhile, Bradley Langlois and Zachary Burt both put their hands on bronze medals, in the Under 73 kg and Under 90 kg respectively.

“Excellent day for Canada with this three-medal haul,” rejoiced Michel Almeida, Team Canada head coach.

Klimkait logged a perfect record in the competition. In the first match of the preliminary round, it didn’t take her longer than 25 seconds to score an ippon against Hong Kong’s Lit Lok Yi. Her second bout was against Dutch Margriet Bergstra, and she came out on top with a waza-ari. The semi-finals pitted her against Brazilian Tamires Crude, and two penalties tipped the scale in the Canadian’s favour. She then went on to win the fight for the gold, against Israel’s Adi Grossman, by yuko.

“Jessica had a very good day,” said Almeida. “Even though not all of her fights were won by ippon, she did come across as sort of ‘untouchable’ to her opponents, given the grip dominance she had today. She was very mature and calm in the way she executed her game plan.”

In the Under 70 kg, La Pocatière judoka Alix Renaud-Roy went up against Belgian Gabriella Willems. Not only did the Quebecer lose her first match by ippon, but she also suffered a knee injury that would end up taking her out of the competition. She bowed out after her repechage bout against Poland’s Sandra Lickun, but still managed to come in seventh and place in the competition. 

Montreal’s Marie Besson (Under 52 kg) lost her only match of the day by yuko to Portuguese Leandra Freitas. Emily Burt (Under 63 kg), from Oshawa, received a bye from the opening round and was then defeated by waza-ari by British Lucy Renshall.

Bronze for the Men

Meanwhile, on the men’s side, Bradley Langlois and Zachary Burt are bringing home bronze medals.

“Bradley Langlois and Zachary Burt had their hands full today, with plenty of tough opponents,” said Michel Almeida. Their medals are a nice reward for the commitment and endurance they’ve shown.”

In the Under 73 kg class, Oshawa’s Langlois walked away with a medal around his neck. He started out with a waza-ari victory over British Eric Ham, and then lost by ippon to Portugal’s Luis Carmo.

In repechage, he disposed of Brazil’s Lincoln Neves with a waza-ari and a yuko. In his fight for the bronze, he threw French Lucas Otmane for an ippon.

In the same weight division, Alma native François Gauthier-Drapeau had two matches: in the first, he beat American Ruben Martin by ippon and, in the second, he lost to British Aaron Turner by yuko. 

Oshawa’s Zachary Burt started out the Under 90 kg tournament with two wins – he got Brazilian Gustavo Assis to take two penalties in his first match, and then served British Samuel Potts an ippon in his second. He then lost by yuko to Great Britain’s Frazer Chamberlain. In his bronze fight, Burt and his opponent, France’s Valentin Jourdan, scored a yuko each, but Jourdan took two penalties against Burt’s one, and it was the Canadian that brought home the medal.

Louis Krieber-Gagnon, from Montreal, was also competing in the Under 90 kg. He lost his only fight of the day by ippon to Valentin Jourdan.