Stefan Zwiers had the chance to slay his personal dragon and seize a national title in the process. But, the dragon -- Robert Edwards of Calgary -- showed he still had plenty of competitive fire and used it to forge his own golden result.
Sunday in Edmonton, host city of the senior national judo championships, Zwiers and Edwards clashed in the final match in the under-100-kilogram weight class. Zwiers, a member of the Prince George Judo Club, was seeking his first career win against Edwards. But, in the bout, Edwards prevailed when he threw Zwiers to the mat for victory.
"I had a couple chances to throw him and he had some chances to throw me," said Zwiers, who won four other Sunday matches to get a shot at Edwards. "I just went in all or nothing. I left openings for him to attack but on my attacks I was trying to finish. I'm not sure how long the fight went, I didn't really keep track of that, but it was a good fight. I think it's the best I've fought him yet. I keep improving.
"[Silver is] never what an athlete wants -- an athlete always wants to win," added Zwiers, who has been training in Montreal for the past three years. "It could have gone worse and it could have gone better but I'm happy with the way I fought."
Team B.C. and Prince George Judo Club coach Aline Strasdin said Edwards is an absolute force in the weight class.
"Stefan fought him well but Edwards is pretty spectacular," Strasdin said. "He won all of his matches very decisively. Stefan lasted the longest with him but he's in a class of his own right now."
Zwiers, 21, now has two silver medals and one bronze from senior nationals. He settled for bronze last year after a costly loss against Manitoba's Cole Hunt. This year, he beat Hunt in the semifinal round with a late throw.
"At the beginning of the match I wasn't fighting very smart and it was looking in his favour for the first little while," Zwiers said. "The last two minutes I kind of picked up my game and started scoring and luckily got a good throw in."
Zwiers is hoping to represent Canada at the Pan American Games, set for October in Mexico. The next major events on his schedule are the Miami World Cup/U.S. Open in early July.
Bronze for Bryant
In his fourth appearance at senior nationals, Paul Bryant was rewarded with his first medal.
Bryant, a 32-year-old from the North Capital Judo Club, battled to bronze in the over-100kg class. The medal-clinching win for him came against Joe Marchand of Kamloops. At about the 30-second mark, Bryant grabbed hold of one of Marchand's legs, picked the bigger man up, and slammed him onto his back for the victory.
"I was the smallest guy by far [in the class]," Bryant said. "I only weighed in at about 230. All the other guys were 280, 320."
Bryant, a seventh-year judoka who holds a black belt, is rightfully proud of his accomplishment.
"It's good," he said. "I've traveled quite a ways [for judo]. I went outside of Montreal one time. It's a long trip to go there, but you've got to do those trips to learn, so that you're ready. It costs a lot of money but you've got to pay your dues."
Bryant's bronze is even more noteworthy because, during nationals, he was feeling the effects of bronchitis.
"I usually have more gas than the big guys but I was getting winded," he said. "I could feel it in my lungs, for sure."
In other local results from senior nationals, Aven Briggs of the PGJC placed seventh in the under-73kg division and Doug Gould of the Hart Judo Academy was ninth out of 22 athletes in the under-81kg class. Briggs and Gould both fought to 2-2 records.
