Charlie Thibault had a particularly full schedule over the past three days, as she competed in the cadet, junior, and senior categories at the Centre Pierre-Charbonneau. On Sunday, she brought the weekend to a close in brilliant fashion, capturing a third medal: silver in the under-70 kg weight division at the Pan-American Open in Montréal.

Having already won a silver medal in the cadet tournament and gold in the junior category, Thibault was keen to wrap up her first senior competition with a flourish.

In the big final, she was pitted against Ireland’s Rachael Hawkes, an experienced athlete who won silver at last year’s Pan-American Open in Montréal.

Hawkes scored a waza-ari with 50 seconds left to go in the match. Thibault made a valiant attempt to get on the scoreboard, but Hawkes succeeded in protecting her lead.

“I did a good job of controlling the fight, but in the one moment I let my guard down, she was able to score,” explained Thibault, who had been nervous about the final. “My opponent was very strong physically, but I think I did pretty well, nonetheless. Especially for a cadet!”

She won against Melissa Myers et Isabela Garriga before the final. In Thibault’s opinion, her excellent performance in Montréal will allow her to make rapid progress in the future, enabling her to once again compete against her sport’s elite athletes in future competitions.

“Things went really well this weekend! [After my first two medals], I felt very confident, and I told myself I could get onto the podium once again, even though the senior level is a whole different ball game! I’m the only Canadian competing in my category, and since I did well in the other tournaments, I knew I could handle it. In the end, I did better than I expected!” concluded Thibault.

Coralie Godbout also put in an impressive performance at the Centre Pierre-Charbonneau, winning the under-78 kg silver medal in her bout against Nicole Stout. Marianna Karas and Amanda McAlpine won bronze medals in the over-78 kg division.

François Gauthier-Drapeau makes a successful comeback

This weekend, François Gauthier-Drapeau participated in his first competition since the Paris Olympics—the first Olympic Games of his career. The Québécois, who normally competes in the under-81 kg category, fought in the under-90 kg division on Saturday.

In the big final, he took on Alexander Knauf of the USA, who injured his shoulder after a minute and thirty seconds of combat, conceding the win to Gauthier-Drapeau.

“It felt good to take part in a tournament once again. It had been a long time! But I couldn’t resist a tournament like this one, essentially right in my backyard! It’s unfortunate that my opponent was injured during the final, but overall, the tournament was great,” said Gauthier-Drapeau.

The 26-year-old athlete ousted Bearach Gleeson of Ireland early in the competition, before defeating Guillaume Gaulin to advance to the semi-finals. His win over Mohab ElNahas secured his spot in the big final.

“I fought some very high-level opponents, whom I know well and who are very good. I had a lot of ups and downs during my fights. Sometimes things went well, other times not so much. Since I know the other judokas well, I knew I was capable of winning, but I also knew I had to put in a strong performance,” explained Gauthier-Drapeau, who will now begin preparing for the Tokyo Grand Slam.

Alex Marineau and Mohab ElNahas also won medals in the under-90 kg category. They both captured bronze after winning their final bouts of the day.

In the under-81 kg final, Keagan Young needed only 35 seconds to clinch the match. The Ontarian quickly launched an attack against Johan Silot of the USA, winning by chokehold. Earlier, he had defeated Canadians Yuriy Semenyuk, Lasha Tsatsalashvili, and Solomon Choran.

Given the depth of the Canadian field, the category’s two bronze medals were also won by judokas from north of the 49th: David Popovici and Warren Seib.

Nick Luchkin won bronze in the under-100 kg division, after defeating his compatriot Michael Akbashev.

The Montréal Pan-American Open came to a close on a high note, with a spectacular victory for John Jr. Messé A Bessong in the over-100 kg final. The Québécois scored a solid ippon against Great Britain’s Daniel Ede, using a manoeuvre that had the spectators on their feet.

No less than twelve medals were added to the senior Canadian team’s haul at the Centre Pierre-Charbonneau. On Saturday, they collected fourteen medals. Notably, Heidi Quach (-48 kg), Evelyn Beaton (-52 kg), and Luka Tsatsalashvili (-66 kg) won gold in their respective categories.