Nanaimo Judo Club judoka medals at national championship event at Calgary
Published 10:30 am Saturday, May 30, 2026
A member of Nanaimo Judo Club hit the podium at the national championship.
Alicia Fiandor, who returned to competition after a seven-year hiatus while studying to become an electrician, scored gold (+63 kilogram newaza) and bronze (-70kg senior division) medals at the 2026 Canadian Open National Judo Championships in Calgary from May 14-17.
As she hasn’t competed in a while, she was “really happy” with the results. For the newaza (ground competition), she had two matches and won both, and for the senior division standup and ground fighting combination, won three of four matches.
When discussing the standup-ground fighting, Fiandor said her first match was “really close” and while she was down by a point with nine seconds left, scored a winning point. She won the second match by a pin, when her opponent “tapped,” lost third, setting up a gruelling fourth match.
“It tested my cardio a little bit, I went good four-and-a-half minutes into golden score, and regular time match is only four minutes, so it was double the length of a regular match,” Fiandor told the News Bulletin. “I ended up scoring a point in the last four minutes of the golden score, so I was really happy with that.”
Alicia also expressed gratitude to all her teammates, who supported her.
Eloy Fiandor, Nanaimo Judo Club coach and Alicia’s father, said 11 judoka represented the Nanaimo club overall and the field at nationals was full of top-tier competitors.
“This is the toughest tournament in Canada,” he said. “It’s the highest level of judo you can put together really, for a tournament, [about 900 athletes], so basically the cream of the crop.”
The club now sets its sights on prepping members for the U.S. Open Judo Championships taking place July 23-26 at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
For more information on the club, go to www.nanaimojudoclub.ca.