Montréal, November 13, 2025 – Canada’s judokas were a force to be reckoned with on day one of the Pan-American Cup, held at Montréal’s Centre Pierre-Charbonneau. The country’s junior athletes captured a total of 27 medals on Thursday, including six gold.
In the boys’ competition, Vincent Nepton performed flawlessly in his five bouts in the under-60 kg category, earning the top spot on the podium.
In the big final, the Québécois faced Great Britain’s Joseph Buchanan, who had just won a marathon bout lasting over 16 minutes against Canada’s Roman Semerozyum, who went on to win one of the category’s bronze medals. Nepton capitalized on his opponent’s fatigue, securing the win in two minutes thanks to two waza-ari.
“The final went really well. I knew he was more tired than I was, and I wanted to take advantage of that. My plan was to get ahead quickly and then hold on to my lead. I came here today to win the gold medal,” said Nepton.
Earlier, the 19-year-old athlete had defeated Laurence Hill, also of Great Britain, in the semi-finals, to earn a slot in the big showdown. He had previously dispatched of Great Britain’s Coen Gilbert, as well as his own compatriots Yannick Schimann and Tayven Tremblay. His fight against Schimann was his toughest of the day.
“All my bouts were pretty close, but Yannick Schimann put up the biggest challenge, even though he has less experience than I do. I don’t know him very well, plus he’s left-handed, like me. It took me a long time to get the better of him and score a point,” explained Nepton.
On the girls’ side, Hayden Thibeault drew on the energy of the crowd to win her three bouts of the day and claim the gold medal in the under-57 kg division.
She defeated her countrymate Nicole Maria Danaila in the big final thanks to an attack in the final seconds of the match, after she had been trailing her opponent.
“There were about 20 seconds left, and I was running out of time, so I decided to just go for it, thinking it was now or never. I landed a move that knocked her onto her back, and I won! I still can’t quite believe it. Funnily enough, the Québécois crowd was super supportive of me, even though I’m from New Brunswick. That really boosted my energy, to be honest,” said Thibeault.
The athlete from New Brunswick began her day by beating two fellow Canadians, ousting Valeria Kostrovets more than six minutes into overtime in the quarter-finals, and following that up with a win over future bronze medallist Emma Tritton in the semis.
“I was very focused all day, and I followed my game plan to the letter. Almost all my fights against Valeria go into overtime, and she always manages to win. But I felt like it was my turn today, and I finally beat her for the first time,” explained Thibeault.
In the other under-57 kg bronze medal final, Canada’s Laurence Gagnon defeated Lea Wyss of Liechtenstein.
Thibeault will be back in action on Sunday, competing in the senior division at the Pan-American Cup. For today’s champion, resting on her laurels is not an option.
“It will be a new day, and I’ll be back at square one. But first, I need to come down from today’s high. My intention is to follow the same game plan as today, and hope things turn out just as well.”
Canadians Daniil Kremerman (-66 kg), Rima Bourihane (-52 kg), Catherine Toshkov (-63), and Charlie Thibault (-70 kg) also won gold medals on Thursday.
Luke Thomson (-66 kg), Lowan Le Bris (-73 kg), Arthur Karpukov (-81 kg), Yehor Paladii (-100 kg), Ekaterina Danilkov (-48 kg), Victoria Summers (-63 kg), and Missy Jen Dorval Mbele (-70 kg) captured silver medals in their respective categories, while Anes Mati (-66 kg), Vincent Roberge-Poitras (-66 kg), Fahd Fithane (-73 kg), Porter Guy (-81 kg), Sarmat Kibizov (-81 kg), Matthew Molchanov (-90 kg), Zoe Element (-48 kg), Melody Grenier (-52 kg), Maia Thomson (-63 kg), and Carla Van Zyl (-63 kg) finished the day with bronze.
The action will continue on Friday at the Centre Pierre-Charbonneau, with the cadet Pan-American tournaments.
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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
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