Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard of Montreal, Quebec and Jessica Klimkait of Markham, Ontario each won a silver medal for Canada at a Judo Grand Prix in Cancun, Mexico this past weekend. Beauchemin-Pinard won silver in the women’s 63 kilogram weight class and Klimkait won silver in the women’s 57 kilogram weight class.
Canadian athletes won two other medals. Kelita Zupancic of Whitby, Ontario won bronze in the women’s 70 kilogram weight class and Arthur Margelidon of Montreal, Quebec won bronze in the men’s 73 kilogram weight class.
In the women’s 57 kilogram weight class, Klimkait beat Tamires Crude of Brazil and Anna Borowska of Poland in Pool D action. She then defeated Corina Stefan of Romania in the semifinals before losing to Rafaela Silva of Brazil in the gold medal match. Miryam Roper of Panama and Timna Nelson Levy of Israel won bronze.
In the women’s 63 kilogram weight class, Beauchemin-Pinard beat Valentina Kostenko of Russia and Amy Livesey of Great Britain in Pool B action. She then defeated Katharina Haecker of Australia in the semifinals before losing to Magdalena Krssakova of Austria in the gold medal match. Alexia Castilhos of Brazil and Livesey each won bronze.
In the women’s 70 kilogram weight class. Zupancic beat Jessica Gallegos of Mexico and Aoife Coughlan of Australia in Pool C action. She then lost to Gabriella Willems of Belgium in the semifinals before beating Laura Vargas Koch of Germany in the repechage to win bronze. Michaela Polleres of Austria won gold, Willems won silver and Daria Pogorzelec of Poland won the other bronze medal.
In the men’s 73 kilogram weight class, Margelidon beat Timo Allemann of Switzerland in Pool C action before losing to Marcelo Contini of Brazil. He then beat Miklos Ungvari of Hungary and Eduardo Barbosa of Brazil in the repechage to win bronze. Tommy Macias of Sweden won gold, Denis Iartcev of Russia won silver and Marcelo Contini of Brazil won the other bronze medal. The medals for Beauchemin-Pinard, Klimkait, Zupancic and Margelidon will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
