Canada’s Di Stasio wins title at wrestling worlds
Justina Di Stasio knew dropping into a lower weight class for the world wrestling championships would come with challenges. There would be changes to her training to focus on quickness, and changes to her diet to maintain her new fighting weight.
Those changes paid off in a big way Wednesday, as Di Stasio won the women’s 72-kilogram final with a 4-2 win over Mongolia’s Nasanburmaa Ochirbat. The world title is Canada’s first since 2012.
Di Stasio, from Burnaby, B.C., was fighting at 72 kilograms after she didn’t make Canada’s team at 76 kg.
“There was a moment of ‘what am I going to do now?’ and I dwelled on that. Then I thought OK, 72 is still awesome and it’s going to take some differences in training like watching my weight and getting quicker,” she said.
“It was a challenge like everything, but it was a good one because today was awesome.”
Di Stasio’s medal was one of three on a successful day for Canada’s women wrestlers. Danielle Lappage took silver in the women’s 65-kg classification with a close 6-5 loss to Finland’s Petra Olli. Later, 2016 Olympic champion Erica Wiebe earned bronze in the women’s 76-kg event with a 4-0 win over Epp Mae of Estonia.
Olivia Di Bacco, of Orillia, fell 7-4 to Tamyra Mensah of the United States in the women’s 68-kg bronze-medal match.
With the three medals, Canada tied its best world championships ever when it won gold, silver and bronze in 2012. The Canadians can top that total when Diana Weicker wrestles for a bronze in the women’s 53-kilogram event and Alexandria Town fights in a 57-kg repechage bout on Thursday.
“We all have to wrestle each other to make the team. Those trials are really hard. Then you have all those girls going out and placing at tournaments, it builds confidence,” Di Stasio said of Canada’s emerging women’s wrestling team. “We’re wrestling good people in Canada, then you go out and you bring that with you.”
On Wednesday, Di Stasio scored two early takedowns against Ochirbat to move in front 4-0. The Mongolian scored a takedown to close the gap, but Di Stasio defended successfully for the remainder of the match to pick up the win.
“I was trying to keep scoring but she was closing up pretty well,” Di Stasio said. “But I was just trying to make sure I was in the right position and not giving up too many gaps.
Di Stasio said she’ll take a month to coach at Simon Fraser University before returning to training in December ahead of tryouts for the national team. The goal is the Tokyo Olympics, although there is no women’s competition at 72 kilograms after that classification was replaced with a 75-kg event following the 2012 London Games.