Montréal, June 16th, 2025 – Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard took home silver in the under-63 kg category at the World Judo Championships in Budapest, Hungary, after losing the final bout in extra time against Japan’s Haruka Kaju.
“I’m thrilled with my result. Obviously, immediately after the fight, I was disappointed because the gold medal was well within reach. I felt like I’d lost the gold rather than won silver, but as the day went on, I realized that I had put in a great day’s fighting,” stated Beauchemin-Pinard before admitting she was proud of her performance.
“Catherine put up a tremendous fight and followed the game plan to perfection. In my opinion, she controlled the match and set the tone. The Japanese is excellent on the mat, she has an excellent turnover manoeuvre and was able to resist Catherine’s pressure to seize the opportunity on the ground,” explained Antoine Valois-Fortier, the Canadian team’s head coach.
After a runner-up world title in 2022, a junior runner-up title and a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, the 30-year-old adds another runner-up world title to her resume.
“It’s still really fresh and I think it’s going to take me a few more days to digest this defeat, because I felt I could have beaten the Japanese”, she added.
After benefiting from a first-round bye, Beauchemin-Pinard triumphed over South Africa’s Jasmine Martin by ippon in her first bout. She then defeated Slovenia’s Kaja Kajzer by yuko in the round of 16 and booked her place in the quarter-final, where she defeated Mongolia’s Enkhriilen Lkhagvatogoo, also by ippon.
“Out of my four fights before the gold medal match, I won three on the ground and one standing with a throw. I’m particularly proud of my quarter-final performance because she had scored with a minute left. I kept my composure and was able to recover and achieve an arm lock on the ground in the last 30 seconds of the fight”, revealed Beauchemin-Pinard.
The Montreal-born athlete then defeated Brazil’s Rafaela Silva in the semi-final by ippon.
Two or three weeks’ rest now await the Canadian judoka. “I’m going to take a vacation and have a productive meeting with my coach to figure out what’s next. I still have the fire, I still love training, and I still love judo, so it will be up for discussion after two or three weeks of consideration”, stated the Canadian.
Meanwhile, François Gauthier-Drapeau was also in action on Monday at the World Judo Championships in Budapest. However, the 27-year-old dropped his first bout in the under-81 kg category to Zaur Dvalashvili of Georgia.
“He fought an opponent he knew well. It was a close fight and a tough draw. The under-81 kg category is particularly challenging. François couldn’t find the proper rhythm and fell behind on penalties early, which complicated things greatly. The Georgian made the correct adjustments to block François and win a very tactical bout”, analyzed Antoine Valois-Fortier.
Kyle Reyes will be the last Canadian athlete in action at the World Championships in Budapest. He will face Bojan Dosen of Serbia on Wednesday in his first fight in the under-100 kg weight division.
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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
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