Airdrie boxer Emily Vigneault punched and blocked her way to a gold medal at the 2023 Canada Winter Games in Prince Edward Island this past weekend.
The Grade 11 Bert Church High School student-athlete won all three of her bouts in the women's 60-kilogram weight class to walk away with the gold medal around her neck on March 4. Vigneault defeated opponents from Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Ontario to secure the top place on the podium.
The Humble Boxing Academy representative said it was surreal when the referee lifted her hand in the middle of the ring following the gold-medal bout, signalling she was the victor.
“So many thoughts and emotions were going through my head and it didn’t even feel real,” Vigneault told the Airdrie City View, shortly after returning home following the trip to Canada's East Coast. I was like, 'There’s no way I just won this.' “When I knew it was actually happening, I just thought, ‘Oh, my god.’”
Vigneault, 16, opened her Canada Winter Games schedule with a 2-1 victory by unanimous decision against Nova Scotia's Faith Murphy on Feb. 28. She followed that up the next day with another unanimous-decision win against Quebec's Alessia Mansueto on March 1 in the semi-finals.
She then she overcame Victoria Vergos of Ontario with yet another unanimous decision on March 4 to claim the gold.
“All the opponents were extremely skilled,” Vigneault said. “I knew [the Canada Winter Games] are an event with girls who want to pursue their dreams of being a boxer. You go there for a reason. You’re confident and you want to get gold, so I knew they’d be experienced and very good fighters.”
The Airdrie athlete said it was a new experience to fight three times in the span of five days, adding boxers usually get at least two weeks between bouts to rest and recuperate.
“I remember my body being extremely sore,” she said. “I had a lot of emotions and stress as well. I just had to make sure to get a lot of rest and do some activities on campus to get my mind off things.”
Vigneault was also the only female boxer from Alberta to compete at this year's Canada Winter Games, and said she was cognizant that she was representing both her hometown as well as her province in the ring.
“I wanted to show other females that they’re also able to pursue boxing, or even other sports in general,” she said.
While she's relatively new to boxing, having only taken up the sport during the COVID-19 pandemic, Vigneault is highly familiar with fight sports. Before becoming a boxer, she was an accomplished Muay Thai kick-boxer, and even competed in the sport internationally.
Upon returning home from P.E.I. this week, Vigneault said she wanted to thank her sponsor, Quest Braces, for helping finance her journey to the Canada Winter Games. She also gave a shout-out to her boxing gym, Humble Boxing Academy, as well as her coach, Lucas George.
“I want to thank everyone for supporting me,” she said.
Next up for Vigneault's fledgling boxing career will be a women's-only fight card in Airdrie next month, when she will fight an adult opponent from B.C.
