Ana Godinez Gonzalez and Darthe Capellan are bound for Great Britain at the end of July in search of gold medals.
Two wrestlers from Coquitlam head to the mat for Canada in one of the biggest sporting competitions in the world.
Ana Godinez Gonzalez and Darthe Capellan have been unveiled as two of twelve athletes who will wear the maple leaf at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the UK.
The roster was announced Tuesday, June 14 by Commonwealth Sport Canada (CSC) and Wrestling Canada Lutte (WCL).
Godinez Gonzalez and Capellan clinched their tickets across the Atlantic after winning their respective senior division categories – women’s 62kg and men’s 57kg – at the Canadian Wrestling Trials last month.
At 22, Godinez Gonzalez is also the reigning world champion after winning her first international gold medal at the 2021 Under-23 event in Serbia.
More recently, she maimed the competition on the Mexican mat to win the Senior Pan Am Championship title.
Godinez Gonzalez’s young career also includes a bronze medal at the 2019 World Junior Championships, a silver medal at the 2021 Polish Open and a 10th place finish in United World Wrestling (UWW) – the governing body sports world.
Meanwhile, Capellan is hoping to earn his first international material in three years.
The 26-year-old won a bronze medal at the 2019 Pan American Games in Peru and recently climbed to a fifth-place finish at the 2022 Senior Pan American Championships.
Capellan’s resume includes a silver medal at the Italian Sassari City Matteo Pellicone Memorial competition in 2019, gold medals at the 2016 Pan American and 2014 Junior Pan American championships, and a bronze medal at the 2013 Canada Summer Games. .
He is currently ranked 35th in the UWW men’s 57kg division.
“The past two years have been difficult for our sport due to the pandemic, but after seeing this team, a great mix of international veterans and some of the country’s future stars in the sport, compete at the Canadian Wrestling Trials in May , we know they are ready for these Games and will bring in great performances,” WCL executive director Tamara Medwidsky said in a press release.
Godinez Gonzalez and Capellan are both members of the Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club.
The Commonwealth Games are scheduled for July 28 to August 8 in Birmingham, England.
National wins for Tri-City talent
Two Tri-City teenagers won their own gear last week at the 2022 Canadian Wrestling Championships.
Ella Finding of Port Moody High School won gold in the women’s under-19 freestyle 57kg category, adding to the BC high school title that she won in the same category on the mat of the provincial championships.
She even beat her Coast Wrestling Academy teammate Madisyn Grof to win the national medal.
Nolan Stewart of Terry Fox Secondary settled for silver medals in men’s under-19 freestyle 65kg and Greco-Roman wrestling.
The national events took place June 9-12 in Tsuut’ina Nation, Alberta, just southwest of Calgary.
NATIONALS 🤼♂️
Congratulations to Nolan Stewart on his Silver Medal 🥈 in Greco-Roman and Freestyle at the U19 level at the Nationals last weekend with his club team Coast Wrestling.Well done Nolan! 🤼♂️
We are proud of you ❤️🖤 @TerryFox43 @sd43bc @SFUWrestling pic.twitter.com/VhTBAtr7Uq—Terry Fox Athletics (@TFSAthletics) June 14, 2022
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