Erica Wiebe's quest for Tokyo in tough at Canadian wrestling trials
Olympic champion must win her weight class to secure place in final qualification tournament
Erica Wiebe's hope for another Olympic gold rests on her results at this weekend's Canadian wrestling trials in Niagara Falls, Ont.
Wiebe, the 2016 champion in the 75 kilogram division, must win her weight class in order to move ahead in the qualification process. Lose and there will be no spot in Tokyo for the 30-year-old from Stittsville, Ont.
A poor performance at the world wrestling championships in September has put her in the win-or-else situation. Wiebe led 3-1 in the dying seconds of her quarter-final match before Epp Maee of Estonia scored a takedown to prevail 4-3 in the 76 kg bout.
"When you train so hard and you make mistakes mentally, you don't wrestle for the full six minutes, that's what happens," Wiebe said following the match. "This year, I've gone through a lot of challenges, mentally, physically, emotionally. I honestly thought I was going to be better than that today."
CBC Sports has full live coverage of the trials, beginning Thursday at 10:30 a.m. ET with the Greco Roman preliminary round.
Only the winners of each weight class will move on and represent Canada in the the Pan-American Olympic qualification tournament in March. The finalists from that event held in Ottawa will secure their spot in Tokyo.
Wiebe, who became the third Canadian to win Olympic gold in wrestling, will likely have to go through Justina Di Stasio if she's to return to the Olympic mat.
Di Stasio captured gold at the 2018 world wrestling championships (72 kg) and won another (76 kg) at the 2019 Pan American games in Lima.
Wiebe recently defeated Di Stasio in the 76 kg final at the 2019 Canada Cup in June.