Okanagan world champion martial artist home for a rest<\/p>\n
Published 4:30 pm Friday, June 12, 2026<\/p>\n
The heart of a champion is rarely satisfied.<\/p>\n
There is a yearning, a hunger, to always improve and do better.<\/p>\n
Lillian Marchand has that heart.<\/p>\n
The 19-year-old Okanagan Indian Band (OKIB) member from Vernon won her first International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation world championship as a black belt, taking the 69 kilogram class at the recent Gi (the robe worn by athletes) World Championships May 28 to 31 in Long Beach, Cal.<\/p>\n
While she\u2019s happy and grateful to be crowned a world champion, it\u2019s how she won that isn\u2019t sitting well with the martial artist.<\/p>\n
Marchand defeated Elisabeth Clay from Vernon\u2019s sister city, Modesto, Cal., when Clay was issued a point-reducing penalty. That\u2019s when Marchand took the lead in the match.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy I won, and I want to keep improving, I\u2019m just not happy with the way I won,\u201d said Marchand, who turns 20 in late July. \u201cI could have been more dominant. There\u2019s so much more I could have done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marchand won four fights in Long Beach, and her match against Clay was the third in the final of the last three major tournaments.<\/p>\n
Each had defeated the other prior to the Long Beach worlds; Marchand using an armbar to submit Clay in the black belt middleweight division final at the 2026 International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation\u2019s Pans tournament in Kissimmee, Fla. <\/p>\n
Clay got her revenge a few weeks later, defeating Marchand with a kneebar move to win the 69kg final at Brasileiro, the Brazilian National Championship, in Barueri. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s been quite a year for Marchand since being promoted to black belt in 2025.<\/p>\n
She became the No-Gi world champion, won Pans and Worlds (Gi), picked up medals at Brasileiro and the European championships, and won her debut professional superfight on a card in Florida.<\/p>\n
Prior to promotion, Marchand celebrated Gi and No-Gi wins at Pans, Europe, Brazil, and Abu Dhabi in both 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n
Battling through injuries in Long Beach, and after a quick jaunt to Disneyland with family, Marchand is back in the North Okanagan for a well-deserved rest.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing home keeps me humbled,\u201d said Marchand, who is excited about becoming an aunt as sister Kara prepares to deliver her first child.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll keep busy by training and staying active.\u201d<\/p>\n
In her first week, she met with members of the OKIB council, who were thrilled to welcome the world champ back home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Okanagan Indian Band would like to congratulate Lillian Marchand on her recent 2026 Black Belt Middleweight Gi World Championship win,\u201d said Chief Dan Wilson. \u201cAt only 19-years-old, Lillian\u2019s dedication and determination is paying off\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Marchand also took the time to return to the place where her journey started, a trek that has seen her leave her cherished OKIB land with a move to San Diego to become one of the dominant performers in her chosen sport.<\/p>\n
She visited NOS (North Okanagan Shuswap) BJJ and MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) in Vernon, owned and operated by Mario Deveault, Marchand\u2019s first instructor in the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went and had a visit with Mario and showed my medals to the kids,\u201d said Marchand. \u201cIt was weird how what Mario said to me all of those years ago, about how I could do so well in the sport, is put into perspective 15 years later.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are photos of a young Marchand wearing gold medals from kids competitions in Gi and N0-Gi BJJ on the NOS website<\/a>.<\/p>\n