Montréal, April 26, 2025 – After a successful first day of competitions at the Panamerican and Oceania Championships where Team Canada collectively earned four medals, Canuck judokas added two more medals to the overall haul, Saturday, in Santiago, Chile.
Keagan Young (-81 kg) and Coralie Godbout (-78 kg) both reached the finals in their respective categories, but lost their final duels. No tears were shed though, as both athletes will take home bronze medals.
Recall that yesterday, Friday, Evelyn Beaton (-52 kg) led the charge for Team Canada with her gold medal, while Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard (-63kg) earned herself a silver. Both Julien Frascadore (66 kg) and Yanis Hachemi (-73 kg) took third place, and bronze medals.
In the –81 kg final, Keagan Young took to the tatami against Brazil’s Gabriel Falcao. The Ontarian was first on the scoreboard in the opening moments of the bout with a yuko. His opponent proved tenacious however, and was able to come back with an ippon with less than a minute to go in regulation time.
“He (Keagan) was very strong at the start of the bout, and was able to score quickly, but unfortunately, he was a little thrown off afterwards. I’m happy because it’s his first medal at the Panamerican Championships, but I know he would have liked to finish on the top step of the podium, naturally. I see him hard at work every day, and I know he’s a gold medal contender every time he goes out,” commented Team Canadian Coach Antoine Valois-Fortier.
In order to reach the finals, Young had had three victories, defeating Cuban Ruben Romero, American Johan Silot, and Mexican Gilberto Cardoso earlier in the day.
In action in the -81kg category, David Popovici won his first-round bout against Panama’s Alexis Harrison Ayarza, before losing his next bout to Argentina’s Agustin Gil.
Coralie Godbout also won the first medal of her career Saturday at the Panamerican Senior Championships. She took silver in the -78 kg category after losing to Colombia’s Brenda Olaya in the final. To reach that silver however, she first had to get the better of Brazil’s Beatriz Freitas and Peru’s Camila Figueroa. Both of the latter matches went to overtime.
“I’m very happy for Coralie, it’s always stressful to fight for a medal for the first time at the Panamerican Championships, and I think she reacted well. It was very close in the final, it didn’t come down to much. She showed great things today, and didn’t panic when the bouts got longer,” mentioned Valois-Fortier.
Also in action on Saturday in Santiago, Guillaume Gaulin reached the repechage in the -90 kg division. He suffered a defeat at the hands of eventual bronze medallist John Jayne (USA), and ended his day in seventh place. In the same weight class, Mohab ElNahas was halted after a single bout on the tatami.
In the +78 kg category, Marianna Karas was defeated in both her bouts Saturday.
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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
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Patrick Esparbès
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