Montréal, December 8, 2024 – Not one, but two Canadians found themselves on the third step of the podium on Sunday at the Tokyo Grand Slam! And while François Gauthier-Drapeau (-81 kg) was spared from having to fight for his medal, Kyle Reyes (-100 kg) had to wage a marathon battle for his.

Photos Tom Taylor

Gauthier-Drapeau was set to face Individual Neutral Athlete David Karapetyan in his final showdown in the Japanese capital, but Karapetyan failed to show up on the tatami, automatically securing the Québécois’ spot on the podium.

“My opponent hurt his shoulder in the match before ours. To be honest, I’m very glad to accept the medal, but I would have liked to fight for it. It always feels a bit weird when you take your bows and then it’s suddenly all over. There’s something missing,” explained Gauthier-Drapeau.

Earlier in the day, the bronze medallist notched up a decisive win over South Korea’s Woojin Choi before losing to Japan’s Sotaro Fujiwara, despite scoring the first point of the match. Fujiwara ended his day on the top of the podium.

In the repechage, Gauthier-Drapeau bounced back with an overtime win over Japan’s Yoshito Hojo, to advance to one of the bronze medal finals.

“I controlled my first bout pretty much perfectly. It went really well. Against Fujiwara, I scored the first point pretty quickly, but then I lost control of the match. It was pretty disappointing. It’s as though I changed my fighting style and it ended up working against me. I came back pretty well in the repechage, but it was a stressful fight, especially in overtime,” added Gauthier-Drapeau, who now holds seven bronze Grand Slam medals, and one silver.

“François was great early in the day, in his first matches. But unfortunately, he lost to [Fujiwara], who later won gold. At the beginning of that fight, [François] led the scoring, but he then lost his lead, and I think he’s disappointed about that. But his win in the repechage was a big one,” said Canadian coach Antoine Valois-Fortier.

In the same weight category, Ontario’s Keagan Young was limited to only one bout in Tokyo, which he lost to Finland’s Eetu Ihanamaki in the first round.

Today marked Gauthier-Drapeau’s return to the under-81 kg weight class. Less than a month ago, he won gold in the under-90 kg category at the Continental Cup in Montréal.

“Going down in weight after several months is always pretty tough. I hadn’t fought in the under-81 kg division since the Olympics. It’s painful, and it wasn’t easy, but I think this confirms that under-81 kg is the right weight category for me,” said the Québécois.

The determination of Kyle Reyes

For Kyle Reyes, it took more than ten minutes of combat to defeat Japan’s Koki Kumasaka and secure a bronze medal in the under-100 kg category.

“The bronze medal match was extremely long. It was very difficult physically, but [Kyle] controlled the fight well and ended up on the podium. He scored some nice points all day today by demonstrating good technique. It was a very good tournament for him,” explained Valois-Fortier.

Photo Tom Taylor

Earlier, the Rio de Janeiro Olympian had beaten South Korea’s Dohun Choi, before losing his quarter-final match to Japan’s Dota Arai, who also claimed a bronze medal at the end of the day. The Ontarian secured his spot in the bronze medal final by defeating Enkhbayar Altanshagai of Mongolia.

Also in the under-100 kg weight class, Shady ElNahas won his first bout of the day, before bowing out to Kumasaka. ElNahas injured his ankle during that fight and therefore decided not to move on to the repechage.

On the women’s side, Coralie Godbout was handed the difficult task of facing Japan’s Kurena Ikeda in the first round. Ikeda won the match, en route to her gold medal finish.

Canada’s judokas will remain in Japan for a few weeks to attend a training camp.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada

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Patrick Esparbès
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