KUDOS, HILARY!
For the second year in a row, Hilary Pond is Canada's National Karate Champion.
Taking place in Halifax, Nova Scotia, at the Halifax Convention Centre, the karate nationals ran from February 20th to the 22nd, 2026. Pond beat Julia McLean, of British Columbia, to take home the gold, and the championship title.
An exceptional athlete, Pond received her first of 14 national podium placements in 2013. She won bronze.
Her first gold came in 2018, winning first place in Team Kumite*, as a member of Team Atlantic**. A year later, in 2019, Pond won the first of five individual national championship titles.
In addition to her gold-medal performances in 2019, 2025, and 2026, Pond also placed first in 2022. That year, due to covid, two national competitions were held, and Pond won both.
Over the course of her career, Pond has won (so far) six bronze, two silver, and six gold medals at the Canadian Nationals.
At just five years of age, Hilary was taken to a karate class by her father Neil Pond, who had been involved in the sport when he was younger. She fell in love with karate immediately, and has been at it ever since.
However, from her first win in 2019, to her most recent in February, 2026, Pond said her experience at Nationals has been very different.
During her first Nationals, the bout flowed, and everything aligned perfectly, leading her to the gold-medal win. But, at her last championship fight, Pond did not feel her best in the ring.
Yet, despite facing many roadblocks during the match, Pond managed to find a solution for every single one. She finished the tournament with the win under her belt.
Of that gold-medal competition, Pond said, "It was a good mental boost, accomplishing the win, despite the obstacles [I faced]."
And each time she competes and wins, Pond said she develops more trust in herself and her ability to overcome.
Reflecting on the fact that nothing is guaranteed, Pond never goes into a competition expecting anything, let alone a win.
Rather, she takes each match as an opportunity to prove to herself that anything is possible.
As for the young athletes, coming up behind her, Pond has some sage advice:
"If you have a goal, keep at it. Work hard no matter what. Perseverance will take you further than talent alone."
And with major events happening over the next few months, Pond has a number of opportunities to prove just how important perseverance is when it comes to competing at the national and international levels:
-
April: US Open Karate Championships in Fort Worth, Texas
-
May: PKF Senior Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
-
June: North American Cup (qualifier for the 2027 Pan-Am Games) in Montreal, Quebec
-
July: K1 - Series A in Guadalajara, Mexico
*Kumite (removed from the Canadian National Karate Championship after 2018) is a team event where provinces take their top four athletes and compete in a best-of-three match-up. Because there are no weight categories in Kumite, athletes could end up fighting someone much smaller or bigger than themselves. It is simply a best-vs-best competition.
**The Atlantic provinces never had enough girls/women to make one team for each province, so they combined forces and created 'Team Atlantic'. Because 2018 was the last year Nationals had Kumite, Team Atlantic is the reigning National Kumite champions.