Edmonton, January 14, 2024 – In the wake of yesterday’s spectacular performances by the U18 athletes, today the senior judokas battled it out at the Elite National Championships in Edmonton. Fourteen gold medals were awarded at the event!

Victor Dessureault captured the under-60 kg gold medal on Sunday, just as he had at the Pan-American Open in Montréal in November. However, on that occasion, his victory was followed by a knee injury one week later, which forced him to reduce his training hours in December.

“I was a little nervous [today]! I wasn’t sure how my knee would hold up, but everything went well, and I’m really glad to have won!” said Dessureault, who finished his day of competition with a record of four wins.

In today’s final, he was pitted against Quebec’s Raphaël Gaanan, who had defeated him in their last four match-ups. Much to Dessureault’s delight, he finally put an end to Gaanan’s streak!

“I’m feeling very proud! Fighting him motivated me even more, because I was still feeling the sting of my four losses to him, so I’m really happy to have finally won! The [other competitors] in my group were members of my club, so those wins were bittersweet. They’re my friends and we train together, but that’s just part of the game,” he explained.

Luka Tsatsalashvili of Ontario (-66 kg) and Maxime Ouimet of Quebec (+100 kg) took top honours in their respective categories, with three wins each.

Damien Ekosky (-73 kg) and Michael Akbashev (-100 kg), both of Manitoba, also won gold medals.

Warren Seib was the first Saskatchewanian to reach the top of the podium this weekend, winning gold in today’s under-81 kg final.

Ontario’s Keagan Young, who won gold at the Pan-American Open in Montréal last November, repeated the feat in the under-90 kg final today, defeating Mohab ElNahas, also of Ontario.

Quebec women shine!

As was also the case on Saturday in the U18 age groups, the judokas representing Quebec performed particularly well at the University of Alberta Sports Centre.

Catherine Toshkov clinched the under-57 kg gold medal, Isabelle Harris won the under-63 kg final, and Laurence Biron was the victor in the under-70 kg group.

“I had to fight women I normally don’t compete against. It was definitely a new challenge, but I took it one bout at a time, and things went well,” said Toshkov, who resumed training barely a month ago.

Today marked her return to competition following an elbow injury three months ago.

“In spite of everything, I did well! I was feeling confident, and I worked hard for this medal. Most of all, I’m glad to have recovered from my injury and to have come back even stronger!” she added.

Quebecers Heidi Quach (-48 kg), Coralie Godbout (-78 kg), and Ana-Laura Portuondo-Isasi (+78 kg) also took top honours today.

In the under-52 kg category, Alberta’s Evelyn Beaton won all three of her bouts by ippon to claim the top spot on the podium.

Three clubs honoured

Last but not least, banners were awarded to the three clubs that amassed the most points in Saturday’s U18 tournament.

With a total of 17 points, Ontario’s Taifu Judo Club, led by head coach Vitaliy Polyanskyy, took first place thanks to the performances of its eight participants in Edmonton.

The five judokas of the Kyodokan Judo Club in Lethbridge, Alberta, along with their head coach Russ Gallant, finished second with 16 points, while the Seïkidokan Judo Club of Quebec finished third with 14 points. Seven athletes represented the Seïkidokan club, which is led by head coach Jacob Landry.

All results are available at judocanada.live.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada

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Patrick Esparbès
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