Canada earns two judo golds, Warner claims decathlon silver at Commonwealth Games

GLASGOW – Canada topped a pair of judo podiums and Damian Warner added a decathlon silver as part of an eight-medal haul Friday at the Commonwealth Games.

Evelyn Beaton of Lethbridge, Alta., opened the country’s golden day on the mat by beating Sofia Asvesta of Cyprus 1-0 in the women’s 52-kilogram final to win the Commonwealth title in her debut.

“Coming into this, I was on a bit of a losing streak,” Beaton said in a statement. “I’d had four losses and some really tough tournaments over the last couple of months. … (Friday) was about staying focused and getting back on a positive note.

“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.”

Julien Frascadore of Beauport, Que., followed with a second judo triumph, defeating defending champion Georgios Balarjishvili, also of Cyprus, in the men’s 66-kilogram final in golden score, the sport’s overtime period.

Earlier, Montreal’s Heidi Quach earned silver in the women’s 48-kilogram final after falling 2-1 to India’s Asmita Dey in golden score.

“I came here with the goal of winning,” Frascadore said. “Every match, I felt my confidence growing. Especially in the final, I felt like I was still in great shape and stayed focused.”

Meanwhile at Scotstoun Stadium, Warner finished second in the men’s decathlon after two-time defending Commonwealth champion Lindon Victor pulled away in the final two events to claim his third straight title.

The 2024 Olympic champion from of London, Ont., trailed Victor heading into the javelin, where the Grenadian recorded a meet-best throw of 63.06 metres to extend his lead. A season-best throw of 55.54 metres kept Warner in contention heading into the concluding 1,500 metres.

Victor finished 11th in that race with a time four minutes 51.78 seconds to secure gold with 8,096 points. Warner crossed sixth in 4:37.50 to finish with 8,036, while India’s Tejaswin Shankar claimed bronze with 7,976.

“I had some solid events to start this decathlon,” Warner said. “But there were some very poor performances and it just kind of went downhill from there. I’m proud that I was able to come out for each and every individual event and kind of just reset and put my best performance together.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.”

Race walker Evan Dunfee added a bronze medal in the men’s 10,000 metres, finishing third behind Australia’s Isaac Beacroft and Kenya’s Stephen Ndangiri Kihu. The Richmond, B.C., product was the defending Commonwealth Games champion and is the reigning world champion at the 35-kilometre distance.

Dunfee said he had been dealing with hamstring issues ahead of the event.

“It was touch and go there,” he said. “We’ll take the medal. I’m really proud of it, really happy with it.”

Savannah Sutherland of Borden, Sask., also grabbed bronze in the women’s 400-metre hurdles, while Toronto sprinter Aaron Brown finished fourth in the men’s 200 metres.

Canada also picked up a pair of boxing medals Friday. 

Edmonton’s Joshua Ofori settled for bronze in the men’s 80-kilogram division after a semifinal loss to India’s Ankush Panghal, while Amber-Jane Wall of St. Albert, Alta., claimed bronze in the women’s 51-kilogram class after falling 5-0 to India’s Sakshi Chaudhary.

“It wasn’t the colour of medal that I wanted,” Ofori said. “But I will take a step back and watch what I did wrong and then go back to the kitchen and put some recipes together and start cooking again. 

“It wasn’t the best fight, the best performance, but it’s boxing. We do this and we come back. We need to keep a good mindset.”

Canada ended Friday with 53 medals — 17 gold, 15 silver and 21 bronze — to sit third in the overall standings behind Australia and England.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 31, 2026.