Jaymi Hinchey of Whitehorse has won the Yukon’s first medal ever in the Elite Canadian Judo Championships.

Hinchey competed in the -52 kg category at the “Elite Eight” tourney in Edmonton on Saturday.

The Star spoke with the young judoka and one of her coaches, Aaron Jensen, Wednesday.

“It’s really exciting. And unexpected. I wasn’t expecting to do that well and I was really proud about it,” said Hinchey.

Jensen said there were eight people in each division, hence the term “Elite Eight.” It was a double-knockout tournament. A computer-generated system determined the matchups. Only two wins were required to win a medal.

Hinchey’s first fight was against the third-seeded girl in the division, Avery Gibney of Saskatchewan. Hinchey defeated Gibney 10-0.

“It was good. I tried a new hold and it worked better than I thought it would.”

The hold was the Kami Shiho Gatame, or Top Corner Hold, in which the opponent is pinned with her arms to the side.

Jensen explained “Just hang on and as long as you can keep control so their back is primarily down to the ground; they can really rock and roll around but as long as they can’t twist right out or sit up or turn you over, you maintain the control for 20 seconds. If they get out between 10 and 20 seconds, it would be a half point to Jaymi, but she held her down for the full 20 seconds.”

Holding her opponent down for the full 20 seconds automatically gave Hinchey the “ippon” (full point) and the win.

Hinchey then took on B.C.’s Leanna Au and lost 10-0.

“In the second one I also did better than I thought I would. It was much closer than I thought it would be … so I was happy with it,” related Hinchey.

Hinchey expected a tough fight since she fought Au before. Au ended up eventually winning the gold medal in the division.

Both of her first two fights lasted around two minutes.

Hinchey bounced back with a win in the bronze medal match against B.C.’s Nevada Jones.

“I got a wazzari (half point) in the first minute or so and then it went the full four minutes.”

Hinchey used a Tai Otoshi, or Hand drop throw, to gain the wazzari.

Hinchey’s father was also in the stands.

“It was nice that he was there. It was nice to have some more people cheering,” said Hinchey.

Two other girls, Hinchey’s sister Lia and Leah McLean, also participated in the Elite Eight event. According to Jensen, that also was a first for the Yukon. Lia Hinchey competed in the -57 kg category and McLean in the -63 kg category.

Although neither girl won a bout, they gave a good account of themselves.

“The other girls did quite well,” recalled Jensen. “Her sister (Lia) came really close; in one of the fights she was up, pretty dominant and ended up taking the loss, but good experience for all three of them, I hope.”

Next up for Hinchey is the Judo B.C. Winter Camp in Abbotsford Dec. 27, and then the Saskatchewan Open in Regina Jan. 20, followed by the Canada Games in P.E.I. Feb. 18-March 5.

Hinchey said the Saskatchewan Open will be a good warmup for the Canada Games. As for the Games themselves, Hinchey is looking forward to them.

“I definitely think about it a lot … I’m very excited for it and I hope to have some success in it, (even if) that’s just doing a new technique I want to try.”

Judo Yukon also has an in-territory event Jan. 13-15 featuring two female fourth-degree black belt coaches, Yuki Yokosawa and Lisa Nakajima. Both are instructors at the Steveston Judo Club in Richmond, B.C.

Yokosawa won medals at the 2003 World Championships, the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Fukuoka International Women’s Judo Championships with the Japanese national team.

Nakajima was a Senior National champ in 2013 and a nine-time medalist in the Canadian National Championships (2004-2013).

Both instructors are NCCP Competition Development certified.