Sudbury arm wrestling series builds momentum for 2027 qualifier

The April 23-25, 2027 World Armwrestling Qualifier at the Radisson Hotel will draw more than 800 athletes from across Canada. Sudbury’s month-old Cortina 64 Armwrestling Series meets once a month at 854 Notre Dame Ave. and is being built into the pipeline that has to produce depth, consistency and local buy-in before the 2027 qualifier.

The qualifier will decide which athletes move on toward the World Armwrestling Championships, and it will do so across multiple divisions, including weight classes, youth, masters and para-athlete categories. Sudbury tourism officials tie the event to a 50th anniversary year for the sport’s connection to the city and identify Sudbury as the hometown of world champion Christine Jaworski.

The series launched May 30 and is organized by Joanne Lachance and Joey Costello. The monthly events are set for the last Saturday of every month at Cortina 64, with inclusive divisions for different weight classes, age groups and a category for people with disabilities. Costello, who has been arm wrestling since 1979, puts mental preparation first, then hand control, speed, technique and only then strength.

Competitors came from as far away as Temiscaming, Québec, including three teenagers from École Gilbert Théberge and one of their mothers. Fourteen-year-old Abby Crawford, who started the sport in 2024, works from the basics: the hand on the peg and the elbow on the pad, with speed and timing able to matter as much as raw power.

Robin Gaudreau, 61, returned to competition after last pulling around 1993. Beginners often get trapped in the hook before they learn to work the wrist, hand and pronation to escape it. A loss at the start by even half a second can put a puller on defense immediately. The next Cortina gathering is set for Saturday, June 27, and the series is scheduled to keep building through March 2027.