Montréal, July 5, 2025 – Charlie Thibault obtained Canada’s best result of the day at the Junior European Cup in Prague, Czech Republic, on Saturday, finishing fifth in the under-70 kg weight class. And although she did not earn her coveted spot on the podium, she did gain a wealth of experience over the course of the day.
In her late-afternoon bronze medal final, Thibault found herself up against Ukraine’s Anna Oliinyk-Korniiko, who got on the board early in the bout, forcing the Québécoise to rethink her game plan. Despite Thibault’s numerous attacks, Oliinyk-Korniiko held her ground, clinching the win after another three and a half minutes of combat.
“Technically, I’m still in the cadet age group, so fifth place is really good. Right now I’m having trouble accepting the fact that I lost, but once I’ve had time to reflect, I know I’ll be proud of myself. During the final, I tried to stick to my game plan, but things didn’t end up going my way. She scored early, so I needed to attack, but it didn’t work out,” explained Thibault.
Earlier in the tournament, Thibault had defeated Germany’s Carlotta Schlieper and Bulgaria’s Nadie Jaafar to advance to the semi-finals, where she lost to Aleksandra Andric of Serbia, who later won the gold medal.
“My first bouts went really well. I followed my game plan to the letter, and everything went according to plan. But I knew my fight against Andric would be tough. She won the Cadet World Championships two years ago. I knew she would be a big challenge. I tried hard, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to beat her.”
Thibault will be back in action next week at the Junior European Cup in Paks, Hungary, where she will pursue her learning amongst the junior-level athletes, while also striving for another result that meets her expectations.
“I think I’ll have more specific goals once the competition gets started next week. I’ve been learning a lot, and I want to work on certain aspects of my judo over the next week, in preparation for the tournament. I want to win one day, so I’m going to do what it takes to make that happen,” she added.
Also on Saturday in Prague, Catherine Toshkov (-63 kg) lost her first and only match to Aurelia Venditto of Italy. In the same weight category, Loika Robertson met a similar fate, bowing out to Nigina Saparboeva of Uzbekistan early in the day.
On the men’s side, Vincent Nepton (-60 kg), Antoine Berteau (-73 kg), and Lowan Le Bris (-73 kg) were also limited to one bout each in the Czech capital.
Canadians Artem Neyolov (-81 kg), Yehor Paladii (-100 kg), John Messé A Bessong (+100 kg), Ekaterina Danilkov (-48 kg), Carla Van Zyl (-57 kg), and Laurence Gagnon (-57 kg) will hit the tatamis in Prague on Sunday.
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For more information:
Patrick Esparbès
Chief Operating Officer
Judo Canada
(514) 668-6279
p.esparbes@judocanada.org