Canadian Olympic bronze medalist Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard of Montreal, Quebec and Christa Deguchi of Lethbridge, Alberta each won gold at the Zagreb Grand Prix Judo Tournament in Croatia this past weekend. Deguchi placed first in the women’s 57 kilogram division on Friday, and Beauchemin-Pinard placed first in the women’s 63 kilogram division on Saturday.
Deguchi, the 2019 world champion, won all five of her matches in Zagreb. She beat Arleta Podolak of Poland, Veronica Toniolo of Italy, and Mina Libeer of Belgium in Pool B play. That was followed by a win over Kaja Kajzer of Slovenia in the semifinals and Eteri Liparteliani of Georgia in the gold medal match.
Beauchemin-Pinard, who won bronze at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, won all four of her matches in Croatia. She defeated Joanne Van Lieshout of the Netherlands and Gankhaich Bold of Mongolia in Pool D action. In the semifinals, Beauchemin-Pinard beat Ketleyn Quadros of Brazil, and then Anriquelis Barrios of Venezuela in the gold medal match. Barrios won silver, while Bold and Quadros each won bronze.
This was Beauchemin-Pinard’s second career Grand Prix gold medal. She previously placed first in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in 2014. Beauchemin-Pinard has also won two career Grand Slam gold medals in Tyumen, Russia in 2014 and Tbilisi, Georgia in 2021.
This was Deguchi’s fourth career grand prix gold medal. She previously won the 2018 Zagreb Grand Prix, the 2018 Hohhot Grand Prix in China, and the 2019 Montreal Grand Prix. At the Grand Slam level, Deguchi also has won five titles. She won the Paris Grand Slam three straight years from 2018 to 2020, as well as the Ekaterinburg Grand Slam in 2019 and the Antalya Grand Slam in Turkey in 2021. The gold medals for Beauchemin-Pinard and Deguchi will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
