Justina Di Stasio is one step closer to competing on the biggest stage of her career.
The Burnaby wrestler has won Wrestling Canada Lutte's (WCL) nomination for Paris 2024 Summer Olympics in the 76 kg weight class after her performance last weekend at the Team Trials.
The competition in Edmonton, Alta., increased Di Stasio's and 11 other athletes' chances at earning the trip to France next July and August.
Her next opportunity to potentially solidify "Olympian" status will be in Mexico at the end of February.
If successful, "Olympian" would be the latest of Di Stasio's illustrious résumé that recently included a gold medals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the 2018 World Championships, as well as a bronze at the 2023 Pan American Championships.
The 30-year-old Norway House Cree Nation member was the number-one seed in her 76 kg weight class going into the trials, securing a bye to the final bout as a result of her initial ranking.
She met Shauna Kuebeck of Ontario in the ladder final last Saturday, Dec. 17, with a spot in the Olympics on the line. Kuebeck, the number-two seed, defeated third-ranked Brianna Fraser in her only other match.
Di Stasio outmatched Kuebeck in the first contest, winning by superiority and a score fo 12-0. She secured her Canadian Olympic team entry with a win by fall in the second set.
The Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club alumna, if she earns a Paris 2024 spot, would be no stranger to competing in France.
In fact, Di Stasio's first event of 2023 was the Grand Prix of France where she claimed a silver medal in ther 76 kg division.
Her other European podium finish this year was a bronze at the Zagreb Open in Croatia. She placed eighth at the 2023 Senior World Championships, which took place in Serbia.
