The IFMA Senior World Championships 2024 took place in Patras, Greece from May 31st to June 9th. We interviewed Estonia’s representatives - Sigrid Kapanen and her trainer Ringo Tipp - who returned home with a gold medal in the -63.5kg weight class.
Sigrid, you have kickboxing and classical boxing world champion titles in your name, and now you also won a gold medal in Thai boxing. Hence the classical questions after a competition - how do you feel? Can you still taste the gold?
Sigrid Kapanen: I feel amazing! Winning this gold medal gave me a lot more motivation and strength. It is still a bit difficult to believe that we came home with a gold medal. We worked tirelessly with Ringo to achieve it.
A few weeks prior to the World Championships you also competed in The League by going against Monique Etienne (UK). Was winning that fight a good stepping stone for the upcoming Championships?
Sigrid Kapanen: Absolutely! Even if I had lost at The League, I wouldn’t have let it influence me in any way and still would have given my all to win a gold medal in the Championships. But winning the fight against Etienne gave me so much motivation that I felt very confident going to Greece.
It is common to look up your opponents before a bigger competition to be prepared for what you would be up against, and how to make it work in your favor. Did you watch your final opponent’s Cemile Aykoc’s previous fights too? What were your tactics to guarantee you’d win? Were you afraid of something?
Sigrid Kapanen: I looked up Aykoc’s fights from last year and also all fights she had during the Championships. We knew that she worked a lot with front teeps so Ringo advised me to use more arms. After the semifinals I learned that Aykoc would be my opponent in the finals. I got really nervous, I didn’t want to lose at all.
Ringo Tipp: Sigrid looked up all opponents’ fights from long Youtube livestreams, and sent them to me quite long before the Championships. Because of that we had really good knowledge of the opponents’ fighting styles and their main combinations. About Aykoc, we knew she preferred using front teeps so we practiced how to enter the teep at the right time, and Sigrid used this technique very well during the fight.
Aykoc was much more aggressive in her previous fights before the final, they probably had done some kind of background research also. We had the same tactics the entire time at the Championships - kick first, kick a lot, and kick hard.
You had to bring a lot of opponents under before getting to the finals, and in your interview with GoodFight you mentioned that the second fight felt easier than the first one. What did the final fight feel like?
Sigrid Kapanen: The first and the final fights were the most difficult. The final match wasn’t as crazy actually, my nerves got the best of me, but only slightly. I gave my all in the last round. I didn’t know the score, and I definitely didn’t want to lose the final round.
Ringo, when Sigrid came to her first muay thai class in 2018, did you know that you’ll do a hat trick with her by winning three gold medals in three different boxing styles? How has Sigrid developed in the last five years? Has Sigrid taught you anything in these years?
Ringo Tipp: I’m no clairvoyant, but after the first few fights I had a feeling that we could hatch something big. I have definitely developed through training Sigrid, especially psychologically. I have tested many options on how to take her to the right mindset before a competition. Now I more or less know which buttons to press.
We interviewed Aleksei Kurdin’s protegee, the 11-year-old Hanna Aljasmäe, who mentioned that you are a huge inspiration to her, and she rooted for you with her whole family. How does that make you feel that younger athletes look up to you? Do you have any words of encouragement for them?
Sigrid Kapanen: Hanna and her family have rooted for me for quite a few years. They always congratulate me whenever I win, and this time they even supported our trip to Greece for the Championships. Hanna is such a great fighter, she has fought at many competitions, and she has a few titles herself. It melts my heart that her and other fighters see me as a role model, I hope I never fail them.
I would recommend to all athletes to not think about what others think. When I was younger, I was constantly afraid of what others think of me or what they would say I would lose. But in reality everyone has their own lives to deal with, and those who take time to tear you down are just jealous.
You now have the gold medal from the IFMA Senior World Championships. What is your next goal? Do you plan on relaxing a bit or are you back in training?
Ringo Tipp: We took a week off after the Championships, now we’re back training. We need to be in fighting form at all times because we want to get a title match sometime soon, and sign a contract with a big organization. But that means that we need to be ready since these opportunities usually arise only a few days before the actual fight whenever someone else falls out from the competition.
In Estonia, Sigrid will be back in the ring in October at Yakuza Fight. We’re still going over a few details with them, but we believe that those matters will be handled.
Estonian Muay Thai Federation thanks Sigrid Kapanen and her trainer Ringo Tipp for representing Estonia at the Senior World Championships. We cannot wait to see which next challenges they take on. You can watch Sigrid's final match at the World Championships on IFMA's Youtube channel here.
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Photo by Sigrid Kapanen
