Canadian Olympic bronze medalist Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard of Montreal, Quebec won the gold medal in the women’s 63 kilogram division on Friday at the 2023 Judo Grand Slam in Tel Aviv, Israel. For Beauchemin-Pinard it was her sixth career grand slam medal and third career gold medal.
Beauchemin-Pinard won both her matches in Pool A. She defeated Anja Obradovic of Serbia and Laura Fazliu of Kosovo. In the semifinals, Beauchemin-Pinard then beat Katharina Haecker of Australia in the semifinals, and then beat Maylin Del Toro Carvajal of Cuba in the gold medal match. Fazliu and Lucy Renshall of Great Britain shared the bronze medal.
Beauchemin-Pinard’s two prior Judo Grand Slam victories came in Tyumen, Russia on July 12, 2014 and in Tbilisi, Georgia on March 26, 2021. Beauchemin-Pinard’s gold medal in Tyumen nine years ago was in the women’s 57 kilogram division, while her win in Tbilisi was in the women’s 63 kilogram division.
Beauchemin-Pinard has also won three Grand Slam bronze medals in her career. They came in Tyumen in 2015 (women’s 57 kilogram division), in Ekaterinburg, Russia in 2019 (women’s 63 kilogram division) and in Antalya, Turkey in 2021 (women’s 63 kilogram division).
Canada won five medals at the 2023 Judo Grand Slam in Tel Aviv. In the women’s 57 kilogram division, Jessica Klimkait of Whitby, Ontario beat Christa Deguchi of Lethbridge, Alberta in the gold medal match. Then in the men’s side on Thursday, Francois Gauthier-Drapeau of Alma, Quebec won the bronze medal in the men’s 81 kilogram division, and Kyle Reyes of Brampton, Ontario won the bronze medal in the men’s 100 kilogram division.
In the men’s 81 kilogram division, Gauthier-Drapeau won Pool D. He defeated Odysseas Georgakis of Cyprus, Bolor-Ochir Gereltuya of Mongolia, and Timo Cavelius of Germany. Gauthier-Drapeau then lost to Vedat Albayrak of Turkey in the semifinal before beating Joao Fernando of Portugal in the Repechage for the bronze medal. Sagi Muki of Israel won gold, Albayrak won silver and Cavelius won the other bronze medal. Gauthier-Drapeau previously won bronze in grand slam events in Baku, Azerbaijan on November 5, 2021, in Tel Aviv on February 17, 2022 and in Paris on February 4, 2023.
In the men’s 100 kilogram division, Reyes beat Harry Lovell-Hewitt of Great Britain, before losing to Gennaro Pirelli of Italy in Pool D action. Reyes then beat Asley Gonzalez of Romania and Peter Palchik of Israel in Repechage action. Zelym Kotosiev of Azerbaijan won the gold medal, Michael Korrel of the Netherlands won silver and Leonardo Goncalves of Brazil won the other bronze medal. For Reyes, it was his fifth Grand Slam medal. He previously won gold in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on October 21, 2022, silver in Tokyo on November 29, 2013, silver in Tyumen on July 12, 2014 and silver in Paris on February 6, 2016.
Beauchemin-Pinard won her Olympic bronze medal in the women’s 63 kilogram division at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. The medals for Beauchemin-Pinard, Gauthier-Drapeau and Reyes will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
