Canadian judokas Christa Deguchi and Jessica Klimkait both have very realistic shots to win Olympic medals this summer in Paris.
But only one will get that opportunity — and Judo Canada won't make a call on its final Olympic team until after the world championships in May in Abu Dhabi, chief operating officer Patrick Esparbes said in an e-mail to Sportsnet.
"After this event, we will have a better idea of the situation," he said. "At this point, we respect the athletes' intensive preparation."
Deguchi is ranked first in the world in the women's 57-kilogram division, while Klimkait is No. 2.
But the Olympics only allow one athlete per country in each division of judo.
Klimkait beat out Deguchi for the Tokyo Olympics spot in 2021 after finishing with a better result at the previous world championships. She went on to win Olympic bronze.
When asked if this year's decision will be made strictly on results at the world championships, Esparbes said: "The process is more complicated than that."
Deguchi, who was born in Japan and started representing Canada in 2018 (she is a dual citizen), won gold at the 2023 and '19 world championships.
Klimkait, from Whitby, Ont., won 2021 world gold and bronze the past two years.
The 57-kilogram women's division at the Olympics is scheduled for July 29.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.