Judo Worlds: Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard wins silver


TASHKENT, Uzbekistan –

Canada’s Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard won a silver medal at the World Judo Championships on Sunday.

The 28-year-old from Montreal, who was a bronze medalist at the Tokyo Summer Olympics, lost to Japan’s Megumi Horikawa in the women’s 63-kilogram final in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The result got Beauchemin-Pinard thinking about the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“When I won my bronze medal at the Olympics, I knew I wanted to keep competing for at least another year so I could win the one medal I didn’t have, a World Championship medal,” Beauchemin-Pinard said.

“I’m happy to say I made it, I’ve achieved my goal. I definitely feel like going for the gold medal, but I’ll take it one step at a time.”

Beauchemin-Pinard quickly won her first three bouts on Sunday in under 70 seconds each with victories over Audrey Jeanette Etoua Biock of Cameroon, Iva Oberan of Croatia and Renata Zachova of the Czech Republic.

The Canadian, ranked third in the world by the International Judo Federation, took just over two minutes to beat France’s Manon Deketer in the semifinals before taking on Horikawa.

Beauchemin-Pinard started the final aggressively with a series of attacks that were blocked by her opponent.

The Canadian kept the pressure on throughout the match, but Horikawa prevailed in the final second of four minutes of regular time with an ippon, which is a deciding throw or hold, much like a knockout in boxing or a pin in wrestling.

“I was able to block her throughout the fight but her technique blew me away at the very end when I was a little tired,” said Beauchemin-Pinard.

“It was between two high profile competitors pushing hard. At one point on the ground I almost scored but couldn’t.

“I’m happy with my result, but right now what I’m feeling most is the bitterness of defeat. A silver medal is always a little hard to come by and it can take a few days for me to feel good.”

Francois Gauther-Drapeau of Alma, Que., lost to Somon Makhmadbekov of Tajikistan in his opening bout of the 81 kg class on Sunday.

Montreal’s Shady El Nahas and Toronto’s Kyle Reyes will compete in the men’s 100kg division on Tuesday.


This report from The Canadian Press was first published on October 9, 2022.