Canadian Roundup: Scoring medals inside 100 days to go
With less than 100 days to Rio 2016, summer sport athletes got a taste of the podium, bringing home hardware including 10 judo medals.
Here’s how Canadians did in judo, athletics, synchronized swimming and boxing.
Judo
Arthur Margelidon (white) at the Pan American Championships in Havana, April 29, 2016. (Photo: Rafal Burza for Judo Canada)
Canada scored ten medals at the Pan American Championships in Havana, Mexico over the weekend. Antoine Valois-Fortier and Arthur Margelidon led the nation’s medal haul, winning the 81 kg and 73 kg competitions respectively. Canada’s other medalists were Sergio Pessoa (silver, 60 kg), Antoine Bouchard (bronze, 66 kg), Kyle Reyes (silver, 100 kg) and Marc Deschênes (bronze, 100 kg) on the men’s side. Ecaterina Guica (silver, 52 kg), Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard (silver, 57 kg), Stefanie Tremblay (bronze, 63 kg) and Kelita Zupancic (silver, 70 kg) climbed the podium.
Athletics
Olympic bronze medallist Derek Drouin and 2015 world champion Shawn Barber both struck gold at Drake relays on Friday night. Barber cleared 5.50 metres to secure the title in men’s pole vault, while Drouin won men’s high jump with 2.24m. Brandon McBride became the world leader in the men’s 800m, after running 1:44.53s, the second fastest time in Canadian history.
Synchronized Swimming
Duet synchronized simmers Jacqueline Simoneau and Karine Thomas, brought won silver at the Japan Open in Tokyo on Sunday. This was the pair’s first time performing their new free routine. The Canadians scored 177.4059 points to finish behind Japan’s Yukiko Inui and Mitsui Risako who won the final with 184.5957. Mexico’s Nuria Diosdado and Karem Achach finished third with 170.0385 points.
Boxing
Mandy Bujold stepped into the ring for the last time on home soil before the Games this summer, at an Atlas Fight Club event in Toronto. Bujold went head to head with 18-year-old Bianca Paquin on Friday night, who put up a good fight before Bujold was victorious.
Bujold also got to meet Olympic champion and fellow Kitchener -Waterloo native Lennox Lewis.
