Christa Deguchi of Lethbridge, Alberta, won her eighth Grand Slam judo gold medal on Saturday when she won the 2023 Tokyo Grand Slam. The two-time world champion (of 2019 and 2023) was one of two Canadians to reach the podium in the women’s 57-kilogram lightweight class this weekend in Japan. The other was Canadian Olympic bronze medalist Jessica Klimkait of Whitby, Ontario, who won the bronze medal. Klimkait won the bronze medal in the women’s judo class up to 57 kilograms at the 2020 Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games.
Deguchi defeated Jessica Lima of Brazil in the gold medal match. Klimkait shared the bronze medal with Chen-Ling Lien of Chinese Taipei.
Deguchi remained undefeated throughout the tournament. She defeated Lele Nairne of Great Britain and Ayami Takano of Japan in Pool A and Eteri Liparteliani of Georgia in the semifinals. Klimkait defeated Altantseg Batsukh of the United Arab Emirates, Momo Tamaoki of Japan and Chen-Ling Lien of Chinese Taipei in Pool C before losing to Lima in the semifinals and defeating Timna Nelson Levy of Israel in the bronze medal game. Deguchi’s seven Grand Slam judo titles to date have been won in Paris in 2018, Yekaterinburg in 2019, Paris again in 2020, Antalya in 2021, Zagreb in 2022, Baku in 2022 and Ulaanbaatar in 2023.
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