IJF/Gabriela Sabau – Nico van Dartel/Cycling Canada – FIBA Basketball 26 Jun 2023
Christa Deguchi and Jessica Klimkait were competing in their first judo tournament since sharing the podium at the World Championships. The two Canadian judokas met in the final of the last stage of the IJF Grand Slam circuit. Meanwhile, Canada’s top women’s 3×3 basketball team is getting back on its feet, while two young phenoms are making their mark in BMX racing and street skateboarding.
Here’s a quick look at how Team Canada athletes performed over the past weekend.
Judo: Deguchi wins duel against Klimkait
Reigning world champion Christa Deguchi was back on the top step of the podium on Friday at the Judo Grand Slam in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Currently ranked No. 1 in the world in the women’s 57 kg category, she defeated Canadian Jessica Klimkait in the final. Deguchi got the better of the bronze medalist at the most recent Worlds in a tactical bout in which Klimkait received three shidos (penalties), which gave her opponent the de facto victory. The fight lasted two minutes 17 seconds.
READ: Canadian duel: Deguchi wins the final against Klimkait at the Ulaanbaatar Judo Grand Slam
It was the eighth time that Deguchi and Klimkait had faced each other in international competition. Deguchi had won their first six clashes before Klimkait won the fight in the Tel Aviv Grand Slam final last February. This is Deguchi’s seventh career Grand Slam gold medal. For her part, Klimkait has reached the podium in her last 14 international tournaments.
Basketball 3×3: A semi-final for the Canadians in their first appearance of the season in the FIBA Women’s 3×3 Series
Canada’s top women’s 3×3 basketball team of Katherine Plouffe, Michelle Plouffe, Kacie Bosch and Paige Crozon finished third at the FIBA Women’s 3X3 Series stopover in Orleans, France.
On Saturday, the Canadians lost 18-21 in the semi-final against the Spaniards in a close match which was decided in the last minute of play, their opponents ending the clash with a two-point basket with nine seconds left in the regulation ten minutes of the match.
Earlier, in the quarterfinals, the Canadians eliminated Chinese team Sc. Yuanda by a score of 20-18 in extra time. The Canadian team had won its two round robin matches on Friday, beating Neftchi, one of the two teams from Azerbaijan, 21-17 and Italy 17-9.
The Orleans stop was the sixth stop of the FIBA Women’s 3×3 Series 2023, but it was the first stop this year for the Canadians, who won the Final of this circuit in 2022. The foursome Canadian will be in action again on Tuesday in Poitiers, France, where he will be the first seed.
BMX: Molly Simpson fifth in the World Cup
Molly Simpson is having a strong start to the UCI BMX Racing World Cup season. She showed great consistency as she took fifth in the elite women’s rounds three and four events in Papendal, Netherlands over the weekend. She had signed two fourth places in the first two rounds presented in Sakarya, Turkey, at the beginning of June.
Aged 20, Simpson was the youngest athlete in the top five at Papendal. She currently sits fifth in the overall World Cup standings this season.
Road cycling: Canadian champions crowned
A few familiar names in Canadian cycling will carry the Canadian Championship title for the coming year after winning the Canadian Road Cycling Championships in Edmonton. On Friday, Paula Findlay, known for her success as a triathlete, a discipline in which she competed at the Olympics, won the women’s elite time trial for the second consecutive year. The men’s elite time trial also crowned a defending champion, Derek Gee, just weeks after his impressive debut on the professional circuit at the Giro d’Italia.
Gee also finished fourth in the road race, behind Nickolas Zukowsky, who was second in the time trial. Alison Jackson added another success to her dream season, winning the women’s road race after finishing second last year.
Triathlon: Charles Paquet equals his best performance in life
Charles Paquet matched his career best performance on the prestigious World Triathlon Championship Series circuit. He finished seventh in the men’s individual sprint distance event held in Old Montreal. This performance equaled the seventh place he had obtained in Hamburg in September 2021. Paquet completed the race in 54 minutes 10 seconds, eight seconds from the podium.
Paquet was about 30 seconds faster than teammate Tyler Mislawchuk who finished 15th. The top Canadian in the women’s elite race was Dominika Jamnicky who finished 17th. Unfortunately, the mixed relay event scheduled for Sunday had to be canceled due to smog caused by forest fires in northern Quebec resulting in poor air quality in Montreal.
Skateboarding: Russel Cordano in the final of the street event in Rome
Aged just 18, Russel Cordano was the top Canadian at World Skate Street Skateboarding in Rome. He qualified last in the final of the eight best where he eventually took seventh place.
This performance allows him to reach 17th place in the men’s street skateboarding world ranking, a ranking that will determine the Olympic qualifications for Paris 2024 in about a year. Ryan Decenzo is currently the highest-ranked Canadian in the discipline, having held on to 10th place despite being eliminated in the qualifying round in Rome.
2023-06-26 15:47:52
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