Frascadore and Biron lead Canadian gold rush at record Montreal Panamerican Open

A homecoming repeat in Montreal

Montreal has a habit of bringing the best out of its own judoka, and the 2026 Montreal Panamerican Open was no exception. Across 7 and 8 November, a record field of 215 judoka from 26 countries across five continents gathered at the Centre Pierre-Charbonneau for the fourth edition of the tournament, and the opening day belonged largely to the hosts. Canada collected seven senior medals on Saturday alone, including two golds won in front of family and friends.

The tournament has grown quickly since its introduction in 2023, developing from a predominantly regional meeting into an increasingly international one. Canada remains the dominant force in its short history, having collected 23 gold medals and 73 medals overall across the first three editions. Yet gold medals also went to athletes from Ukraine, Venezuela, Poland and Mexico, and several finals were decided by a single early score.

Frascadore and Biron set the tone

Julien Frascadore provided the day's most emotional storyline. Nearly a year to the day after winning the Panamerican Cup in Montreal for the second time in his career, the Quebec-based judoka repeated the feat on home tatami, taking top honours in the under-66kg division. The final was anything but comfortable: standing across from him was his teammate and daily training partner, Luke Thomson. Frascadore scored a waza-ari at the start of the match and spent the rest of the four-minute regulation bout protecting it, fending off Thomson's attacks time and again before the clock finally released him to celebrate.

"It's always special to compete in front of friends and family," Frascadore said afterwards. "Every time that happens, there may be a bit of pressure, but it's important to be able to perform under that pressure, and I did well today." He shared the moment with Thomson, both of their families in the stands, and the repeat win confirmed Montreal as his happiest hunting ground after previous under-66kg titles there in 2023 and 2025.

Laurence Biron matched him on the women's tatami, winning gold in the under-63kg category with a display of control that mirrored Frascadore's. Biron won all three of her bouts on Saturday, including the final against Lea Wyss of Liechtenstein, where an early yuko gave her a lead she never surrendered. Her route to the final had been the hardest kind of test: back-to-back wins over teammates Dilana Gesa and Carla Van Zyl. "I felt really confident going into the bout," Biron said. "I scored a yuko, and after that, I just managed it to the best of my ability."

Van Zyl recovered in the repechage to take bronze, beating Ukraine's Valeria Kravchuk, so the two Canadians stood on the podium together. Two other Canadian men reached finals on Saturday but settled for silver: Vincent Nepton in the under-60kg division and Fahd Fithane at under-73kg. Frederic De Cardaillac added a bronze at under-73kg, completing a seven-medal Saturday for the hosts.

Rodriguez and Hofman deny the favourites

Not every home hope was fulfilled, and the women's heavyweight divisions produced two of the weekend's sharpest twists. In the under-78kg final, Venezuela's Elvismar Rodriguez defeated Mexico's Norma Liliana Cardenas by ippon, the decisive score in judo, to take the gold. Cardenas had fought her way through the elimination bracket and pushed Rodriguez throughout a highly contested bout, but the Venezuelan found the winning throw and left the Mexican with silver and a significant boost to her international ranking. Cardenas had also finished second at the Santo Domingo Panamerican Open in September.

The over-78kg final told a similar story. Karra Hanna of the Bahamas, the defending Montreal champion after winning gold at last year's edition, advanced to the gold-medal match but fell to Poland's Urszula Hofman and settled for silver. Hanna's run had been impressive: she beat American Taylor Seyoun by ippon to reach the semi-finals, then defeated Canadian Frederique Forest with two waza-aris. Hofman, though, proved too strong when it mattered most. The silver was Hanna's fourth medal of 2026, following bronzes at the Commonwealth Games, the Panamerican Senior Championships and the Guatemala Senior Central America and Caribbean Cup.

Elsewhere, Ukraine's Denys Tupytskyi won gold in the men's under-60kg division, while Mexico's Paulina Martinez took the women's under-52kg title, adding to a strong Mexican showing. The spread of medals was what the organisers had hoped for from a record entry list: established contenders tested and ranking points shared widely.

A record field and what comes next

For Canada, the weekend's significance runs deeper than a medal count. With the Junior World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, only two weeks away, Montreal served as a final sharpener for several young athletes moving between age groups, including junior gold medallist Melody Grenier, who returned to senior action on Sunday after winning the junior division earlier in the week. The depth on show suggests the home programme is producing genuine strength in depth.

For the wider Pan American circuit, Montreal's fourth edition confirmed its place on the calendar. A record field and finals decided by single scores rewarded patience and game-plan discipline. Frascadore said it best: the goal is always to have as many Canadians as possible on the podium, and on this evidence both hosts and visitors got the hard, honest competition the road to Los Angeles demands.