Fourteen Judokas Clinch Canadian Titles

Montréal, May 26, 2024 – Canada’s senior judokas put on quite a show at Montréal’s Centre Pierre-Charbonneau on Sunday, the final day of the Open National Championships! A total of fourteen athletes were crowned Canadian champions at the end of the day.

Photo: Judo Canada
Catherine Toshkov and Keagan Young

In the U21 under-57 kg final, fans were treated to a scenario identical to Saturday’s: a showdown between Catherine Toshkov and Laurence Gagnon. Toshkov, who was brimming with confidence following yesterday’s win, once again prevailed, securing her second gold medal in Montréal.

“I feel great! I won four bouts, and I started out well, once again. I took it one fight at a time, and I felt more relaxed throughout the day,” said Toshkov, following the event. “I had a good strategy for the final, and it worked well.”

Before facing Gagnon, the Canadian champion defeated Beata Schenk of British Columbia, Eibhleann Alexander of Ontario, and Hayden Thibeault of New Brunswick. A weekend like this one is sure to motivate the Boucherville-based athlete, who hopes to compete internationally in the near future.

“I worked really hard this year in training, and I’m proud to have gotten good results in competition. I’m really happy! It makes me want to go even further, and to continue to train hard,” added the gold medallist.

Marie-Lune Turmel (-48 kg), Evelyn Beaton (-52 kg), Isabelle Harris (-63 kg), Laurence Biron (-70kg), Coralie Godbout (-78 kg), and Frédérique Lavigne (+78 kg) were today’s other female gold medallists.

Keagan Young at top of podium

The men’s events were also action-packed.

Keagan Young made it all the way to the top step of the podium in the under-81 kg category, which was a particularly tough bracket on Sunday. The Ontarian clinched five wins to secure the gold medal in his category.

“It feels great to win gold! It was a long, but great, day. I was a little worried about some of my bouts, like the semi-final against Tigran Kryvytskyi. I know how good he is, so I was happy to beat him,” explained Young, for whom the toughest was yet to come in the big final.

“David [Popovici] is probably the worst type of opponent for my style of judo. I have a lot of trouble with judokas like him, so I was glad to figure out a way to win today. I was really nervous before the final! We train together, and we’re good friends. The fight could have gone either way, and I was ready for anything,” explained Young, justifiably proud of his performance.

His other wins came at the expense of Alberta’s Ethan Deeg, Ontario’s Porter Guy, and Quebec’s Victor Gougeon-Gaze, who later won a bronze medal.

Raphaël Gaanan (-60 kg), Lowan Le Bris (-66 kg), and Yanis Hachemi (-73 kg) also won gold medals, as did Guillaume Gaulin (-90 kg), Danil Neyolov (-100 kg), and John Jr. Messé A Bessong (+100 kg) in their respective categories.

For the competition results, click here.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada

For more information:

Patrick Esparbès
Chief Operating Officer
Judo Canada
(514) 668-6279
p.esparbes@judocanada.org