Canadians Capture Three Bronze Medals in Spain
Montréal, March 1, 2026 – Canada’s judokas enjoyed a successful medal haul on Sunday at the Junior European Cup in Móstoles, Spain. Yehor Paladii (-100 kg), Hayden Thibeault (-57 kg), and Laurence Gagnon (-57 kg) all picked up bronze medals in their respective categories.
Photo Judo canada
Laurence Gagnon, Yehor Paladii and Hayden Thibeault
Paladii won his first two bouts of the day before bowing out to Giorgi Bendeliani of Georgia in the semi-final. In his bronze medal match, he bested Salim Oubenaissa of France to claim the third spot on the podium.
“He had a good day! Yehor would like to compete in the under-90 kg weight class, so he’s in the process of losing weight. Which means that today, he was lighter than his opponents, but it really didn’t show,” explained Canadian coach Antoine Bouchard.
“He was still able to execute his judo well and stand his ground, and in the bronze medal match, he threw his opponent and won by ippon. In the end, he fought as many matches as he could,” added Bouchard.
In the under-81 kg category, Artem Neyolov also came close to winning a bronze medal, but was narrowly defeated by Georgia’s Nikoloz Kurdgelashvili in his last match of the day.
“Artem was solid today, and he was never really in any danger. He managed his bouts well overall, but he made a slight error in the bronze medal final. He made a move at the same time as his opponent, and that cost him the bout,” said Bouchard.
Earlier, the Ontarian had edged out his three first adversaries before being defeated by Giorgi Mumladze, also of Georgia, in the semi-final. “The Georgians have a very physical style that proved challenging for Artem,” explained the coach.
Canada’s two other medals were won by women on Sunday.
Hayden Thibeault collected the hardware in the under-57 kg category, where she began her day with three wins in a row before being defeated by Vusala Hajiyeva of Azerbaijan in the semi-final. In the repechage, the Québécoise secured the bronze medal with a victory over Lalla-Dounia Lahrifi of France.
“She had an excellent day! This is her first medal at a junior European tournament,” said Bouchard. “It’s a great step in the right direction. She’s progressing very well. Now we have to work on improving some of her tactical decisions.”
Also in the under-57 kg weight division, Laurence Gagnon captured Canada’s third bronze medal.
In her semi-final match against Varvara Kuchar of Lithuania, a momentary lapse of attention cost her the fight. The defeat sent her to the bronze medal final, where she bounced back to end the day on a high note. In that bout, she was pitted against Israel’s Gil Perry, and although she fell behind in penalties, she made a brilliant counterattack to claim the victory.
Meanwhile, Melody Grenier (-52 kg) concluded the day with two wins and two losses. “She’s one of the youngest members of the team. This is her first year as a junior, so she needs to gain experience. We saw good things from her today, though, and I think she’ll continue to progress very well,” said Bouchard, clearly proud of the Canadian delegation to Spain.
Helena Martins de Oliveira (-52 kg) ended the day with one win and one loss, while Rima Bourihanne (-52 kg) was limited to a single bout.
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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
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Patrick Esparbès
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