On the second and final day of the Elite Canadian Judo Championships, athletes in the over-18 age group hit the tatamis on Sunday in Edmonton. Of the dozens of participants at the Saville Community Sports Centre, certain young medallists viewed their achievements as springboards to the highest levels of international judo.

Such was the case for Alberta‘s Charlize Medilo, gold medallist in the under-48 kg weight division.

“Yes, I did expect to win gold. I trained really hard and I’ve beaten the other girls before, so I felt confident,” said Medilo, member of the Lethbridge Kyodokan Judo Club, who earned her first Elite National Championships title today.

She finished seventh at the last World Cadet Championships and is now focused on competing at the Olympic Games and the World Championship in the coming years. Her victory on Sunday will allow her to receive more generous athlete assistance funding from the federal government.

“I’ll be able to compete in bigger international tournaments!” she concluded, delighted.

Raphael Gaanan (British Columbia) relished his title in the under-60 kg category. Gaanan, who trains at the Pika Judo Club in Burnaby, applied lessons learned through previous losses to finish the day with a gold medal around his neck.

“It’s a bit of a crazy experience, because at the 2020 tournament, I was favoured to win, but I lost in the first round. This year, I was again ranked first going into the competition, but this time, I won! It’s a great accomplishment, for sure.”

In his opinion, his mental strength made the difference today.

“In other Canadian tournaments, I’ve often made it to the finals, and I’ve often finished second. Today (Sunday), I finally broke through that mental barrier, and I told myself I could win the gold medal,” said Gaanan of the greatest achievement of his sports career so far. He now hopes to represent Canada at the Junior World Championships.

In the provincial rankings, Quebec took first place with a total of 30 medals (9 gold, 8 silver and 13 bronze). Ontario finished second with 9 (2 gold, 2 silver and 5 bronze) and Alberta was third with 5 (2 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze.)

Alongside this tournament, the IBSA Pan-American Championships for blind and visually impaired athletes were also held today. Of the four Canadians who participated, three won medals.

Priscilla Gagné, Paralympic silver medallist in the under-52 kg weight class, finished second in the J1 under-57 kg division. Her compatriot Christina Mowatt finished fifth.

In the men’s J2 under-60 kg category, Justin Karn won silver.

Veteran Tony Walby earned bronze in the J1 under-90 kg group.

Elite Canadian Championships Medallists – Over-18 Age Group

Women

-48 kg
Gold Charlize Medilo (Alberta)
Silver Heidi Quach (Quebec)
Bronze Marie-Lune Turmel (Quebec), Monica Ortiz (Quebec)

-52 kg
Gold Evelyn Beaton (Alberta)
Silver Amélie Grenier (Quebec)
Bronze Sarra Bourihane (Quebec), Launa Hinton (British Columbia)

-57 kg
Gold Catherine Toshkov (Quebec)
Silver Mahée Savoie (New Brunswick)
Bronze Aliya Koliaska (Alberta), Alyssandra Phoebe Manuel (Ontario)

-63 kg
Gold Isabelle Harris (Quebec)
Silver Meadow Macdonald (Alberta)
Bronze Rebeca Manaila (Quebec), Sarah Ekosky (Manitoba)

-70 kg
Gold Laurence Biron (Quebec)
Silver Alexandria Lefort (Ontario)Bronze Maralgoo Batbayar (Alberta), Kiera Burt (Ontario)

-78 kg
Gold Coralie Godbout (Quebec)
Silver Frédérique Lavigne (Quebec)

+78 kg
Gold Adriana Portuondo-Isasi (Quebec)
Silver Jannessa Keays (Saskatchewan)
Bronze Brandi Lingley (New Brunswick), Sara Desbiens (Quebec)

Men

-60 kg
Gold Raphael Gaanan (British Columbia)
Silver Daniil Kremerman (Quebec)
Bronze Vincent Nepton (Quebec), Adrian Shimabukuro (Ontario)

-66 kg
Gold Yanis Hachemi (Quebec)
Bronze Pierre-Henri Quiedeville (Quebec), Norbert Peter Andras (Quebec)

-73 kg
Gold Justin Lemire (Quebec)
Silver Lasha Tsatsalashvili (Ontario)
Bronze Arthur Karpukov (Quebec), Munkhjin Batdori (Quebec)

-81 kg
Gold Jumber Meladze (Ontario)
Silver Jérémie Blain (Quebec)
Bronze David Popovici (Quebec), Mohab ElNahas (Ontario)

-90 kg
Gold Alexandre Arencibia (Quebec)
Silver Warren Seib (Saskatchewan)
Bronze Alec Garand (Quebec), Guillaume Gaulin (Quebec)

-100 kg
Gold Danil Neyolov (Ontario)
Silver Kevin Turcotte (Quebec)
Bronze Nikola Petrovic (British Columbia), Ilia Malvenishvili (Ontario)

+100 kg
Gold Marc Deschesne (Quebec)
Silver John Jr. Messé A Bessong (Quebec)
Bronze Andrew Blaney (New Brunswick), Rayan Belal (Quebec)