Canadians are competing alongside Russians at the judo world championships

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Yesterday in Qatar, Canada's Christa Deguchi captured her second world title in the women's 57-kilogram weight class while Olympic medallist Jessica Klimkait took bronze in the same division. Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard (women's 63kg) and François Gauthier-Drapeau (men's 81kg) nearly added to the Canadian medal haul today, each falling just short of a bronze.

These results reflect Canada's recent international success in judo, the Japanese martial art where athletes wearing heavy, bathrobe-style jackets grapple and try to throw their opponent down, pin them or force them to submit with certain holds.

Deguchi, 27, won gold at the 2019 world championships and at last year's Commonwealth Games. Klimkait, 26, captured the world title in 2021 and took bronze in Tokyo that year to become the first Canadian woman to earn an Olympic judo medal. The next day, Beauchemin-Pinard won a bronze of her own, marking the first time Canada captured multiple judo medals at a single Olympic Games.

WATCH | Deguchi reaches top of medal podium in Doha:

The current world championships in Doha are happening amid controversy. Judo's world governing body decided to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete as "neutral" athletes, lifting the outright ban issued in response to the invasion of Ukraine. The move, which followed the IOC's unpopular recommendation that individual Russian and Belarusian athletes be re-admitted to international sports under certain conditions, has proven contentious. Ukraine boycotted the world championships, and earlier this week organizers banned a group of