Nicolas Germain reached quarter-finals in both men’s singles and men’s doubles at the 2026 YONEX Canadian University/College Badminton Championships, McGill University Athletics reported.
The tournament took place from March 21 to March 23 at Collège Édouard-Montpetit in Montreal, where McGill University placed eighth overall in the team competition. Germain, a 23-year-old physical and health education senior from Laval, Quebec, finished the weekend with a 4-2 record across his events.
Seeded among the top four players in men’s singles, the RSEQ conference champion started his run with straight-set victories over Laval’s Nathan Bédard at 21-12 and 21-9, followed by a 21-16 and 21-19 win against Toronto’s Jackson Zhou. He then exited the championship draw after dropping a three-game match in the quarter-finals to eventual finalist Harold Tan.
In men’s doubles, Germain advanced to the quarter-finals by winning 2-1 in the round of 32 and sweeping his round-of-16 match before falling 2-0 in the quarter-finals. That performance made him the only McGill athlete to reach the final eight in two separate events.
Alex He, a civil engineering senior from Montreal, added a strong mixed doubles showing by advancing to the round of 16 with his partner before losing to a pair that eventually reached the tournament final.
In women’s singles, kinesiology sophomore Caline Huang of Montreal posted McGill’s best result by reaching the consolation final. After losing her opening match in the main championship draw, she strung together multiple wins to finish as the runner-up in the placement bracket.
McGill competed in Group A during the preliminary round alongside Toronto, Alberta, and the Montreal Carabins. The team finished pool play with an 0-3 record, dropping a 5-0 decision to the Carabins, a 4-1 match to Alberta, and a 5-0 loss to Toronto.
Toronto won Group A with a 3-0 record, ahead of Alberta at 2-1 and the Carabins at 1-2. In Group B, Waterloo led the standings at 3-0, followed by Western at 2-1, Laval at 1-2, and Sherbrooke at 0-3.
McGill concluded the preliminary phase with a 1-14 record in individual matches and a 5-28 record in individual games, sending the squad into the fifth-through-eighth-place consolation bracket.
During the consolation bracket, McGill opened with a 3-0 loss to Laval. The team bounced back in its final fixture to secure a 3-2 victory over Sherbrooke, leaving McGill eighth overall in the final team standings.
Across the wider tournament, Toronto’s Zachary Desjardins captured the men’s singles title. Emma Meng won the women’s singles crown and teamed with Chloe Choi to claim the women’s doubles title. Nathan Mills and Harold Tan won the men’s doubles tournament, while Mills also partnered with Allison Cheng to take the mixed doubles championship.
The McGill men’s contingent featured Teague Chan Carusone of Burlington, Ontario; Nicolas Germain; Alex He; Felix Fanjun Lin of Saskatoon; Yadurshan Selvaratnam of Montreal; David Wang of Montreal; Skyler Xiao of Oakville, Ontario; Siqi Zhang of Ottawa; and William Zhang of Oakville, Ontario.
The McGill women’s roster included Gabrielle Chen of Downers Grove, Illinois; Evonne Henning of Okotoks, Alberta; Caline Huang; Yifan Wu of Waterloo, Ontario; and Chelsea Zhang of Candiac, Quebec.
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