Back in action after injuring her shoulder, Jessica Klimkait continued her momentum on Saturday at the prestigious Grand Slam in Paris.
The Canadian climbed on the second step of the podium in the French capital to collect a tenth medal in a row on the international scene.
Klimkait had to face both the Frenchwoman Priscilla Gneto and the Parisian public in the grand final of the under 57 kg
“The crowd was loud and we guess it’s a big fight. From the start, all my focus and all my energy is directed towards my judo, no matter what the spectators say or do”, mentioned Jessica Klimkait.
The Ontarian was very combative from start to finish and made it difficult for her opponent, who nevertheless managed to close the door on several occasions.
The two judokas had already been penalized twice each before the start of extra time. Klimkait’s third shido came after 1 minute and 46 seconds of extra time and confirmed the Frenchwoman’s victory.
“I was going for the points and she was trying to push me towards the penalties instead. Clearly, she was playing tactically and I wish I had realized that during the fight to adjust,” said the Olympic medalist, who recently took a few weeks off to heal a shoulder.
“It hasn’t been long since I decided to resume training for the Paris Grand Slam. In these circumstances, I’m happy to have come here and to be on the podium. »
Jessica Klimkait now has 11 Grand Slam medals. On Saturday, the bronze medalist from the most recent World Championships won first over Altantsetseg Batsukh of the United Arab Emirates and Seija Ballahaus of Germany. She then emerged victorious in her duel against Ukrainian Daria Bilodid before defeating Japanese Haruka Funakubo in the semi-finals.
“I’m proud of my consistency and it gives me confidence, but today I had good and bad shots, so that always leaves me with points to improve. »
Margelidon and Beauchemin-Pinard fifth
Two other Canadians fought for a place on a podium in Paris. After taking advantage of a bye in the first round, Arthur Margelidon defeated Frenchman Benjamin Axus, Poland’s Adam Stodolski and Moldovan Petru Pelivan to start the tournament with the wind in his sails in the under 73 kg category.
As was the case at the Masters Tournament in Jerusalem last December, the 29-year-old Montrealer lost to Brazilian Daniel Cargnin once he reached the semi-finals. Margelidon was penalized twice for non-combativeness, then Cargnin scored a waza-ari with less than 30 seconds to go to race to victory. He will win the gold medal a little later by winning ahead of the Georgian Lasha Shavdatuashvili.
For his part, Arthur Margelidon had an appointment with the Kazakh Daniyar Shamshayev to obtain a bronze medal, but lost by waza-ari.
Like her teammate, Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard also ended the day at the foot of the podium on Saturday.
The vice-world champion under 63 kg won against the Austrian Lubjana Piovesana and the Kosovare Laura Fazliu, before suffering a first setback against the Israeli Gili Sharir, after a hotly contested extension.
In the repechage, Beauchemin-Pinard again fought in extra time, but this time she got the better of Anriquelis Barrios of Venezuela.
The Canadian finally took on Cuban Maylin Del Toro Carvajal at the end of the day. She tried to lift her opponent after 50 seconds elapsed in the fight, but the latter took the opportunity to send Beauchemin-Pinard on the tatami and score a good ippon for the victory.
The Paris Grand Slam resumes on Sunday and four Canadians will be in action. François Gauthier-Drapeau and Étienne Briand will be in the under 81 kg draw, Shady ElNahas will fight in the under 100 kg category and Marc Deschênes, in the over 100 kg.