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 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Beaton topped the podium in the women’s -52-kilogram weight class at her debut Games, defeating Sofia Asvesta of Cyprus 1-0.
The 21-year-old from Lethbridge, Alta., earned the lone point with just over a minute remaining in regulation, taking Asvesta down for a yuko score before holding her off for the rest of the four-minute bout.
Beaton defeated defending champion Tinka Easton of Australia 1-0 by yuko in the semifinals earlier Friday at the Scottish Event Campus.
Evelyn’s father, Ewan Beaton, is a member of the Judo Canada Hall of Fame, and represented Canada at both the 1992 and 1996 Olympics.
Evelyn Beaton of Lethbridge, Alta., defeated Sofia Asvesta of Cyprus 1-0 to claim the gold medal in the women’s -52 kg judo final, at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games.
“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.”
Frascadore followed up Beaton’s triumph by dethroning defending champion Georgios Balarjishvili of Cyprus in the men’s -66kg final.
Frascadore and Balarjishvili each received two shido penalties in regulation, putting them both one away from defeat as the match went to extra time in the golden score period. Frascadore claimed the win by yuko after controlling his opponent on the ground.
“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.”
The 26-year-old Frascadore, from Beauport, Que., booked his ticket to the final by defeating Nigeria’s Michael Agbo by ippon after scoring two yukos.
Quebec City’s Julien Frascadore defeated Georgios Balarjishvili of Cyprus with a golden score, to claim the gold medal in the men’s -66 kg judo final, at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games.
Montreal’s Heidi Quach fell just short of a judo title in the women’s -48kg event, losing 2-1 in extra time to India’s Asmita Dey in the opening gold-medal match of the day.
Quach opened the scoring by throwing her opponent to her side for a yuko score, but Dey responded by slamming the Canadian down for a yuko of her own to tie it.
The aggressive Dey attacked relentlessly but Quach withstood the storm to force the golden score period. Dey took down Quach with an o-uchi-gari throw for a yuko point to claim the win, leaving Quach with the silver medal.
Montreal’s Heidi Quach was defeated by India’s Asmita Dey 2s1-1 Friday in the women’s -48kg category judo competition at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The 22-year-old Quach dug deep to win a nine-minute semifinal against Malta’s Katryna Esposito earlier in the day, overcoming the taller opponent in golden score after tying the match at 1-1. Quach secured the victory via ippon with an o-uchi-gari.
Canada won eight medals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, including four gold.
Warner finishes 2nd in decathlon
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 2020 Olympic champion from 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 55.54m kept Warner in contention heading into the concluding 1,500m.
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.”
Damian Warner of London, Ont., has secured a second-career Commonwealth Games medal, this time a silver in the decathlon in Glasgow.
Warner began Day 2 of competition with a 39-point lead and was fastest among all competitors in the first event of the day, finishing the 110m hurdles in 14.04 seconds.
But a ninth-overall finish in the discus (37.61m), and a top clearance of 4.40m in the pole vault left Warner (6,669) 35 points behind Victor (6,704) in second place before the evening session’s final two events.
Damian Warner of London, Ont. talks about having to fight his way back to reach the decathlon podium after leading much of the competition.
Speaking with CBC Sports reporter Devin Heroux after the pole vault, Warner said he was frustrated and tired.
“Mentally, I’m quite frustrated, this whole morning has not been like me. And physically my body just feels a little bit tired. Near the end of yesterday, the cramping and stuff has kind of made me feel a little bit flat today,” Warner said. “But you just gotta keep fighting [until] the end, and you never know what happens.”
Warner, won a Commonwealth Games gold in 2014 in Glasgow.
Savannah Sutherland of Borden, Sask., also grabbed bronze in the women’s 400m hurdles, while Toronto sprinter Aaron Brown finished fourth in the men’s 200m.
It was a Commonwealth Games bronze medal for Borden, Saskatchewan’s Savannah Sutherland in the women’s 400-metre hurdles final in Glasgow Friday.
Gilbert confirms 4x100m relay teams
Athletics Canada head coach Glenroy Gilbert announced changes to Canada’s 4x100m relay teams ahead of Saturday’s heats. Gilbert made it clear that if the Canadian teams advance to the finals, the lineups for those races would still need to be determined.
“The Commonwealth Games is a chance to introduce some newer athletes to the relay program. Giving athletes to compete on a large stage,” Gilbert told CBC Sports reporter Devin Heroux.
Here are the lineups for the Canadian entries:
Men’s 4x100m: Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Duan Asemota, Andre De Grasse
Women’s 4x100m: Frédérique Chiasson, Audrey Leduc, Marie Eloise Leclair, Sade McCreath
CBC Sports Devin Heroux interviews Athletics Canada head coach Glenroy Gilbert and breaks down the sprint relay teams at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Dunfee walks to bronze
Canadian race walker Evan Dunfee placed third in the men’s 10,000m final with a time of 40 minutes 03.39 seconds at Scotstoun Stadium.
The Olympic bronze medallist finished behind Australia’s Isaac Beacroft (38:45.51) and Kenya’s Stephen Kihu (38:46.57) in the five-man contest.
“It was touch and go there,” he said. “We’ll take the medal. I’m really proud of it, really happy with it.”
The decorated Richmond, B.C., native was the defending Commonwealth Games champion and is the reigning world champion at the 35km distance.
Evan Dunfee of Richmond, B.C. race walked to a 10,000-metre Commonwealth Games bronze medal Friday in Glasgow.
2 Canadian boxers reach finals
A pair of Canadian boxers will go for gold on Saturday morning in Glasgow.
Scarlett Delgado guaranteed herself a medal by winning her women’s 54kg semifinal on Friday.
Delgado, of Brampton, Ont., defeated England’s Lauren Mackie 4-1 to advance to the gold-medal match (6 a.m. ET, CBC Gem, CBCSports.ca) against India’s Preeti Pawar.
Montreal’s Marie Al-Ahmadieh advanced later Friday in the women’s 60kg division.
The 21-year-old Al-Ahmadieh won via stoppage after unleashing a flurry of combinations in the second round, leading to three standing eight counts — the maximum allowed in one round — with the decisive one coming at the bell.
Al-Ahmadieh will face India’s Priya Ghangas in the final at 11:45 a.m. ET.
Edmonton boxer Joshua Ofori will bring home a bronze medal after losing his men’s 80kg semifinal 5-0 to Ankush Yadav of India. Semifinal losers receive bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games.
“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.”
Edmonton boxer Joshua Ofori lost his men’s 80kg semifinal 5-0 to Ankush Yadav of India at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, however, boxers earn at least a bronze medal by reaching the semifinal stage.
Amber-Jane Wall, also from Edmonton, also took bronze after falling to India’s Sakshi Chaudhary via unanimous decision (5-0) in the women’s 51kg semifinals.
Canada ended Friday with 53 medals — 17 gold, 15 silver and 21 bronze — to sit third in the overall standings behind Australia and England.
Amber-Jane Wall of Fort McMurray, Alta., fell to India’s Sakshi Sakshi in the women’s 51kg weight class Friday at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
More Canadian results on Friday
- The bowls duo of Ryan Bester and John Bezear moved closer to the playoffs in men’s pairs, improving to 4-0 with a tiebreak win over previously unbeaten Scotland (0-10, 5-4, 4-0). They sit first in Section C with one round-robin game remaining, against Norfolk Island Saturday. Fellow Canadians Jean Stairs and Anne Hibberd fell to 0-4 in women’s pairs with a 2-0 loss to New Zealand.
- Nandini Sharma qualified for the women’s 400m T54 final. Sharma, who finished her heat in a season’s best 59.20 seconds, was disqualified for obstruction in the women’s 1,500m T54 event earlier this week.
- Izzy Goudros posted a mark of 6.50m in qualifying to advance to the women’s long jump final. Fellow Canadian Sienna MacDonald (6.14m) did not advance.
- In track cycling, Sarah Orban finished her women’s sprint qualification round in 11.073 seconds and did not advance.
- Maggie Coles-Lyster and Alexandra Volstad didn’t qualify for the medal races in the women’s 4,.000m individual pursuit track cycling event, finishing ninth (4:38.485) and 12th (4:46.830), respectfully.
- Jonathan Hinse and Gabriel Seguin failed to qualify for the men’s 4,000m individual pursuit medal races, finishing 15th and 16th with times of 4:19.681 and 4:24.561, respectively. Hinse later finished 17th while Seguin was 22nd in the men’s elimination race.
- Cole Dempster and Tyler Rorke finished 11th and 12th, respectively, in the men’s keirin. They finished last in their respective quarterfinal races before moving on to the 7th-12th-place final. Dempster reached the quarterfinals directly by finishing second in his first-round heat, while Rorke qualified through the repechage round. Fellow Canadian James Hedgcock failed to make it past the repechage.
