Canada enjoyed a perfect opening day at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, with Heidi Quach, Evelyn Beaton and Julien Frascadore each earning respective hardware, including two gold and one silver after advancing undefeated to their respective gold medal bouts.
Competing at the Scottish Exhibition Campus (SEC), Team Canada had three judokas in action on the opening day of competition, with Heidi Quach (-48 kg), Evelyn Beaton (-52 kg) and Julien Frascadore (-66 kg) all taking to the tatami.
Julien Frascadore (-66 kg) opened the tournament for Canada with an ippon victory over Mederic Lawson (Togo) in the round of 16. The Beauport, Quebec, native followed that performance with another ippon win over hometown favourite, Scotland's Aiden Moffat, in the quarterfinals. Frascadore continued his dominant run in the semifinal, defeating Nigeria's Michael Agbo again by ippon to secure his place in the gold medal final.
In the gold medal match, Frascadore met Georgios Balarjishvili of Cyprus, the 2022 Commonwealth Games champion at the same weight. Frascadore was strategic and measured in his strategic actions and managed to get an advantage over the champion. Frascadore was victorious and earned a gold medal for himself and Canada.
After the match, Frascadore spoke about how his confidence never waivered throughout the day.
"I came here with the goal of winning. Every match, I felt my confidence growing. Especially in the final, I felt like I was still in great shape and stayed focused,” said Frascadore. “Even though we went to Golden Score and we both had two penalties, I still felt like I had the edge in the match and that I would find an opportunity to win."
Evelyn Beaton of Lethbridge, Alta., entered the women's -52 kg competition in the quarterfinals, where she defeated Wales' Lola Hodson by ippon. In the semifinal, Beaton upset defending Commonwealth Games champion Tinka Easton of Australia to book her place in the gold medal final.
In the -52 kg gold medal match, Beaton met Sofia Asvesta of Cyprus. Beaton’s approach was a good balance between offensive and defensive and systematically went on to win the bout, becoming a Commonwealth Games champion.
After the bout, Beaton talked of this win and how this gold medal is motivating for her.
“Coming into this, I was on a bit of a losing streak. I’d had four losses and some really tough tournaments over the last couple of months, so today was about staying focused and getting back on a positive note,” said Beaton. “I think I did a good job of that. It feels really nice to come here after those losses, perform the way I did and get myself moving in the right direction again.”
In the women's -48 kg division, Heidi Quach began her day with an ippon victory over Botswana's Botho Babutsi in the quarterfinals. Quach faced Malta's Katryna Esposito in the semifinal. After a tightly contested bout moved into golden score, the Montreal judoka secured victory by ippon to advance to the gold medal match.
Going for gold, Heidi Quach fought Asmita Dey of India in the final. The gold medal bout for Quach was hard fought and could easily have gone either way. In the end, it was a silver medal for Quach.
"Right now, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. There are so many emotions - I'm disappointed that I couldn't quite get the result I wanted, but at the same time I'm really proud to represent Canada and to come away with a silver medal,” said Quach. “Our team has been incredible throughout this whole process. We've trained together, pushed each other every day, and everyone has been so supportive. I'm really grateful to my teammates for helping me get to this point."
Judo competition continues Saturday with three more Canadians taking to the tatami: Laurence Biron (-63 kg), Charlie Thibault (-70 kg) and Guillaume Gaulin (-90 kg), all looking to add to Canada's medal total.
Visit the Team Canada 2026 website for all the Canadian results, videos, photos and behind the scenes stories.
Photo Credit: Antoine Saito