Lavanna Laass had the hometown crowd playing in her ears and was tuned in to what her mind had rehearsed in her gold-medal match on the Canada Winter Games judo mat.
But the minute Laass strayed from that plan of attack, Hana Varsanyi seized her opportunity to unleash a cobra strike that put Laass to sleep.
The 16-year-old from Lethbridge, Alta., used her leg for leverage and knocked Laass onto her back while hooking her arm around Laass's neck, squeezing with all her might in a British roll stranglehold. Laass tried in vain to yank Varsanyi's arm down toward her chest and held her breath, hoping she could turn her body enough to break the choke.
But it didn't work. The lack of oxygen getting to Laass' brain left her unconscious and the match was over, 1:45 after it had begun. Varsanyi rose to her feet to celebrate her under-63 kilogram triumph while the medical team at the Northern Sport Centre rushed to the aid of Laass.
For Varsanyi, it was the second win in two tries over Laass, but this one, on the Canada Games stage with a big crowd watching, was by far the sweetest.
"We fought before and it was a close match and I was really happy to be competing against the best in Canada here," said Varsanyi. "I didn't have a very good start to my match and I was kind of out of it but I felt my choke and I rolled right because I knew it felt right. I was surprised she didn't have a better defence against it, because it ended up going so fast. It was a really surprising win."
Laass, 18, who finished second in her class at the 2014 national championships, won two matches to get to Wednesday's final, making quick work of Kamryn Shea of Prince Edward Island and Alisha Kaegi of Ontario, while Varsanyi defeated eventual bronze-medalist Marie-Maude Lafrance of Quebec and Kira Fusch of Ontario, who also won under-63 kg bronze.
"I was really excited to be fighting in the final, I was nervous going into it but when I got on the mats my nerves went away – having all that support behind you is really overwhelming but for me it empowered me to give it my all," said Laass. "l thought I fought really well out there before I got choked out. I was doing what I wanted to do and I was winning because of it.
"Even though I got choked out, I'm proud of myself for not giving up and I've definitely improved a lot from the last time I fought her. I felt a little upset when I woke up, it's a little scary, I've never been choked out before. Normally I tap but I thought I could get out of the choke, which was my mistake and I eventually passed out because of it.
"Even though I didn't win gold, I don't feel that I lost and I don't feel like I disappointed anyone either."
Laass said she made the mistake of trying to flip Varsanyi with a move she'd never tried before in a national competition and that's what got her in trouble. While the outcome of the match was an obvious disappointment for Laass and her B.C. team coach Bruce Kamstra of Prince George, winning a silver medal on home soil took away some of the sting of their defeat.
"We started off really strong... maybe the pressure she was putting on herself to do well at home, maybe got the best of her," said Kamstra, who coaches Laass at the Hart Judo Academy. "She changed her gameplan at the end and I just hope she learned the importance of sticking to gameplan, especially when it was working for her. She was controlling the match, scored early and she was moving in front of her to attack until she made a bad attack and (Varsanyi) capitalized on it.
"But I'm really impressed she was not willing to give up and I'm really proud of her. She works hard and she's a great role model for everyone in our club."
In the under-52kg class, Grace Northrop of Prince George lost her opening match by ippon to Maud Chouinard of Quebec and went on to lose to Thessa Baldo-Oduca of Manitoba and Brett Poliakiwski of Alberta. Yumi Amal Bellali of Quebec beat Poliakiwski for gold.
In other B.C. medal results, Ario Nishimura of Richmond lost by ippon in the under-73 men's gold-medal match to Brad Langlois of Ontario. Leo Goldberg of Abbotsford won bronze in the under-60kg men's class, with the gold medal going to Justin McEachern of Alberta, who beat silver medalist Anthony Pepin of Quebec.
The other gold medalists Wednesday were: Women – -48kg: Marie Besson, Quebec; -57kg: Jessica Klimkait, Ontario; Men – 66kg: Gabriel Juteau, Quebec.
Individual competition resumes today at 1 p.m., while the team competitions are set for Saturday.
