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Canada pins pair of Coquitlam wrestlers for 2022 Commonwealth Games

Ana Godinez Gonzalez and Darthe Capellan are Britain bound at the end of July in search of gold medals.
Kyle Balzer
Kyle Balzer

Two Coquitlam wrestlers are heading to the mat for Canada at one of the biggest sports competitions in the world.

Ana Godinez Gonzalez and Darthe Capellan were unveiled as two of a dozen athletes set to wear the maple leaf at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the United Kingdom.

The roster was announced on Tuesday (June 14) by Commonwealth Sport Canada (CSC) and Wrestling Canada Lutte (WCL).

Godinez Gonzalez and Capellan punched their tickets across the Atlantic after winning their respective senior division categories — women's 62 kg and men's 57 kg — at the Canadian Wrestling Trials last month.

At 22 years old, Godinez Gonzalez is also the reigning world champion after claiming her first international gold at the 2021 under-23 event in Serbia.

Most recently, she mauled the competition on the Mexican mat to claim the Senior Pan-American championship title.

Godinez Gonzalez's young career also includes a world junior championship bronze from 2019, a silver from the 2021 Poland Open and 10th-place ranking by United World Wrestling (UWW) — the global governing body for the sport.

Meanwhile, Capellan is hoping to earn his first international hardware in three years.

The 26-year-old collected a bronze medal at the 2019 Pan-American Games in Peru, and recently climbed to a fifth-place finish at the 2022 Senior Pan-Am Championships.

Capellan's résumé includes a silver at Italy's Sassari City Matteo Pellicone Memorial competition in 2019, golds from the 2016 Pan-Am and 2014 Junior Pan-Am championships, and a bronze at the 2013 Canada Summer Games.

He's currently ranked 35th in the UWW men's 57 kg division.

"The last two years have been challenging for our sport due to the pandemic, but after seeing this team, a great mix of international veterans and some of the country’s future stars in the sport, compete at the Canadian Wrestling Trials in May, we know they are ready for these Games and will bring home some great performances," says WCL executive director Tamara Medwidsky in a news release.

Godinez Gonzalez and Capellan are both members of the Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club.

The Commonwealth games are scheduled for July 28 to Aug. 8 in Birmingham, England. 

National victories for Tri-City talent

A pair of Tri-City teens earned hardware of their own last week at the 2022 Canadian Wrestling Championships.

Port Moody Secondary's Ella Finding won gold in the under-19 women's freestyle 57 kg division, adding to the B.C. high-school title she won in the same category on the provincials mat.

She even beat out her fellow Coast Wrestling Academy teammate Madisyn Grof to claim the national medal.

Nolan Stewart of Terry Fox Secondary settled for silvers in under-19 men's freestyle 65 kg and Greco-Roman wrestling.

The national events took place June 9 to 12 in Tsuut’ina Nation, Alta., just southwest of Calgary.