Artingstall goes from troubled teen to Tokyo medallist
➤ Army gunner guarantees Britain’s first medal in ring ➤ Defeat of Australian sets up semi-final with home favourite
No stranger to receiving her marching orders in the past, school dropout turned Army boxer Karriss Artingstall dished out her own punishment to guarantee Great Britain’s first boxing medal in Tokyo. Artingstall defeated Australia’s Skye Nicolson by split decision (3-2) in the women’s featherweight division not only to secure a semi-final place against home favourite Sena Irie but to ensure that the least she will be leaving Japan with is bronze.
It marks a remarkable transformation for the 26-year-old who, in her own words, was “never the bestbehaved pupil”, extending to the point of being excluded from three secondary schools. “I never knocked about with the girls, always with the lads. I would be doing fivea-side football, manhunt, BB gun wars, climbing and getting stuck in trees. I would be so high up you could see the whole estate.”
Growing up in Macclesfield, Artingstall’s troublesome behaviour threatened to send her down the wrong path. But it was while attending the non-mainstream school into which she had been placed that she came across boxing as part of her Friday PE lessons. She was boxing competitively by the age of 16.
But if the sport proved to be her saviour and a way of channelling her energy, the Army was the guiding influence in her ultimately becoming an Olympic medallist. After two years as a sports coach apprentice and desperate to avoid a full-time nine-to-five job – “I’d have been bouncing off the walls” – she bit the bullet and followed up on her long-held interest in joining the forces at the age of 18.
She completed her training, coming out as a gunner with the 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, but fighting in the ring was never far away and she joined the Army’s elite gold squad, a group of soldier athletes marked out for greater things.
In 2018, the big predictions for her came true. After impressing as one of seven Army boxers to make it to the finals of the England Boxing National Elite Championships, winning the featherweight title, Artingstall became part of GB Boxing’s podium potential squad that year and won European silver in 2019. “The best decision I’ve ever made [joining the Army],” she said last year. “They have helped me in progressing to the level I have within boxing. Without their support and allowing me to train full-time, it would have been a big struggle for me. Not only has it benefited my career but it has remoulded me as a person. I’m more mature, confident and clued up. The opportunities in the Army are endless.” Nicknamed “The Bomber”, Artingstall has been given time off from the Army to focus on her boxing dream but her Olympic moment nearly did not come, having to secure a box-off victory at the European qualifiers in June. The reward was a place in the British team, becoming Britain’s first female Army boxer to represent her country at a Games. Botswana’s Keamogetse Sadie Kenosi was swatted aside in the first round in Tokyo before another unanimous points victory over one of Brazil’s top medal hopes, Jucielen Romeu, pitted her against Nicolson. Artingstall was given problems by the elusiveness and skill of the Australian but she gained her rewards for her work-rate and pressure.
“I’m over the moon just to have got myself on that podium,” she said. “I keep looking at that badge on my chest and can’t believe it. Just to be an Olympian is amazing. I can’t put into words what it means to me. When I am standing here with gold or silver, I am going to be even more lost for words.”