For Chantal Leduc, silver is as good as gold.
The Barrie resident is still riding a high after muscling her way to the silver medal in the master women’s 80-kilogram right-handed event at the recent WAF World Armwrestling Championship held at the Berjaya Times Square Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“I feel like I’ve won the gold,” Leduc said. “I absolutely feel that way.”
The former Canadian national champion — she has won 12 titles in four different weight categories — lost the gold-medal match to South Africa’s Berdene Mulder.
Leduc said she gave it all she had and feels like a champion.
“I’m absolutely happy with how it went, for sure,” said the 42-year-old, who had defeated her South African opponent in 2012. “There’s definitely no disappointment there. Everything I needed to do, I did.
“So, I can’t be disappointed with that,” Leduc added. “That’s what I trained for.”
While winning a silver medal at worlds is an accomplishment she’s proud of, Leduc’s big goal heading into the competition was to top rival and multiple world-champion Camilla Kattstrom.
Kattstrom has been an international force and Leduc called the German armwrestler “the person to beat” heading in, which she did.
“I beat her this time around and that was the ultimate goal for me,” said Leduc, who has been competing in the sport for 18 years.
Leduc qualified for worlds in both the 80-kg masters and open categories earlier this year at the Canadian National Armwrestling Championships in Vancouver.
At the world championships, she also placed fourth in the senior women’s 80-kg left, and fifth in the senior women’s right in the same weight category.
Leduc says she felt both physically and mentally prepared heading into the competition, which played a big role in her success.
“I was 100% clearer in my mind,” Leduc said.
While heading into an event like this it’s important to be confident, Leduc says it is even more vital to go in with nothing else weighing you down mentally.
The focus must be clearly on the task at hand.
“If your mind is muddled, it’s going to toy with your confidence,” she said. “It’s another variable that you can’t allow to interfere with your (performance).”
Leduc credited trainer Roman Svoboda for a big part of her success. Whatever challenge lay ahead for her, Svoboda, who has also coached boxers and martial artists, was there to make sure she went in fully prepared.
“Roman saw a lot of potential in my growth still,” Leduc said. “That’s why he would challenge me in all kinds of different ways, whether it was physically or mentally. There’s no doubt about that.”
“I’ve finally caught up with him. I figured him out,” Leduc added with a laugh. “At least I think I have.”
Svoboda has been especially impressed with the discipline Leduc has shown, whether it be in the gym or clearing whatever she needed to from her mind.
“She was in the best shape mentally and physically,” he said.
Leduc has learned to find her limits and then push the envelope.
“She has the desire, the discipline and the determination,” Svoboda said.
“It was just getting her going in the right direction,” he added. “She was going many different directions at a time, so it was just to narrow her down on just that part that made it.”
That means not feeling any pressure despite facing the world’s best. Leduc maintains she didn’t feel any in Kuala Lumpur.
She was just proud to represent Canada, Barrie and those who have helped her along the way.
“I’m happiest when that’s where I am,” she said of being locked in a grip and ready for her opponent. “The only thing that crosses my mind is who I represent when I’m there.
“We did our homework and we did it well, and I knew that. I was (in Malaysia) do a job. Not to be cocky, but even losing to (Mulder) I did exactly what I needed to do in that moment.”
Leduc will now continue with her training and prepare for the upcoming provincial championships next spring followed by the nationals in Saskatchewan.
“I’ve probably achieved in the last few years more than what I’ve expected to,” Leduc said. “The silver standing is something I’m proud of, but in my heart the gold is there.”