Nickel ready to take on the world

After meeting almost every challenge presented to her in 2018, Aleah Nickel is ready to face the biggest test of her wrestling career.

The Swift Current resident will be in Zagreb, Croatia next week to compete in the 2018 United World Wrestling Cadet World Championships from July 2-8.

“It’s a lot of excitement. Right now I am just trying to stay as calm as I can. I still have finals going on, but I’m still in the training mode as well and just trying to keep working at that,” said Nickel.

Nickel, 16, has already won a provincial high school gold medal, Saskatchewan Amateur Wrestling Association gold medal, and National Cadet Championship this year and also wrestled in the Pan American Championships in Guatemala City in May.

“If I can get a gold medal of course that would be amazing. But, basically I want to go there and wrestle at my best. I’ve done really well at other tournaments because I wrestled my way. So at this tournament I am just going to go out and do what I know and wrestle as great as I can,” she said.

Nickel knows little about the competition she will face at the World Championships.

“The coaches help us out a little bit in that. They sort of tell us the country’s style, but it’s not a 100 percent to each individual, so you sometimes go in blind.”

Nickel is looking forward to wearing the maple leaf once again.

“At times it feels like a lot of pressure, but at the same time it’s like I’m going there and I know that I have the support of everybody for me. It’s just a really good feeling to have.”

The multi-sport athlete also represents her school in soccer and track and field, but she has been focusing on wrestling in the lead up to her biggest challenge yet.

“It’s been a lot of technical sessions, trying to perfect everything. Within the last four or five days it’s all about just going hard and making sure that I am conditioned well enough and that I can use my technique within a match.”

With overseas wrestling trips to Peru, Japan, and Guatemala under her belt, Nickel is looking forward to another foreign odyssey, which will include some travel with her family around Croatia after the tournament.

“I am just looking forward to experiencing a new culture and whatnot and definitely to try out some new food,” she laughed.