Canadian Open Judo Championships have started this morning at the Olympic Oval in Calgary. This year’s edition is already breaking records in every category, with a total of 849 participants, an all-time high and a lot more than 686 last year, but that increase in participation also means more athletes per province, which might give us a fierce competition between provinces.

For the past few editions, the province of Quebec has been on a roll, placing first in ranking, far ahead of their competitors. However, their lead became smaller in 2016 and 2017, and with the increased number of registrations from Alberta and Ontario in 2018, who are usually respectively second and third in ranking, staying in first place might be more of a challenge for Quebec.

Quebec’s total medal haul in 2016 was 109, and 100 in 2017, compared to 25 and 46 for Alberta, and a steady 30 medals per year for Ontario. The biggest changes were in the U16 and Senior categories, while U21 and U18 were more stable.

Today, after the ne waza tournament, the big winners were without a doubt Manitoba, who won 6 gold medals, 1 silver and 2 bronze, for a total of 9, followed by British Columbia with 5 medals in second place (1 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze), and third place is a tie between Quebec and Saskatchewan with 2 medals each (1 silver and 1 bronze).

In kata, Ontario was leading the pack with 9 medals (3 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze), Quebec was second with 7 (2 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze) and Alberta was in third with 3 medals (2 gold and 1 bronze).

The shiai tournament starts tomorrow at 9 AM with the U18 and Veteran categories. All the details about the tournament can be found on www.judonationals.org

-30-

Written by Sarah Mailhot for Judo Canada