Beauchemin-Pinard wins Canada’s second judo medal of Tokyo 2020

Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard has won bronze in the women’s 63kg event for Canada’s second judo medal in as many days at Tokyo 2020.

Ranked seventh in the world in her weight class, Beauchemin-Pinard’s day began with a long bout in the Round of 32 as she defeated Laerke Olsen of Denmark by ippon, almost five minutes into Golden Score time. Her Round of 16 match went much quicker, as she won by ippon over Magdalena Krssakova of Austria in just 38 seconds. In the quarterfinals, she accumulated two waza-ari to earn the win by ippon over Ketleyn Quadros of Brazil.

That set her up for a semifinal meeting with Clarisse Agbegnenou of France. It was a tight match, but the world number one scored a waza-ari which was enough to send Beauchemin-Pinard to a bronze medal bout. There she faced Anriquelis Barrios of Venezuela, ranked 12th in the world.

The contest was scoreless through the four minutes of regulation, sending it into Golden Score time. Three minutes in, Beauchemin-Pinard made her move and flipped Barrios to her side to get the waza-ari for the win.

Beauchemin-Pinard is just the second Canadian woman to win an Olympic medal in judo, following Jessica Klimkait’s bronze on Day 3. It is the seventh Olympic medal all-time for Canada in judo.

READ: Klimkait becomes Canada’s first female Olympic judo medallist