An historic first took place at the 2026 International Federation of Armwrestling (IFA) World Championships in Japan this past September when 12-year-old Arabella Cremo of We’koqma’q First Nation became the first Mi’kmaw woman or girl to ever qualify and compete in the event.
Getting the chance to represent not only herself, but her Cape Breton community on the international stage meant a lot to her. While she says she was nervous ahead of the competition, she also had a lot of confidence in herself.
“I knew I was going to do pretty good because I’m a really experienced arm wrestler,” says Arabella, who took home the Junior U-15 women’s left and right 63 kg bronze medals.
“I was also really excited to go because I wanted to meet a lot of new people that like the sport as well,” says Arabella. “There were some people my age and there was a table in the main part, and we would just pull on the table and it was really fun.”
To get ready for the world championship Arabella tried to practice and workout whenever she had free time, finding opportunities outside of volleyball and family commitments. This included practicing with her friends at school during free time. She is also a member of the Cape Breton Golden Arms Armwrestling Club, training withMark MacPhail.
Mark travelled alongside Arabella to compete at the world championships, taking home a masters silver. Two other Nova Scotians also medaled at the event with Garrison Frosst taking home gold and silver in the U21 division and Wayde Graves winning gold in the visually impaired division.
But Arabella’s first coach was her father, Gavin. Introducing her to the sport at a young age, by the time she was three years old he knew she would excel.
“She was already beating her older cousins, so I kind of saw it at that point that she was going to be very competitive as well because she hated losing,” he says.
Gavin himself was a competitive arm wrestler growing up and was still competing often when Arabella was younger. Anytime he learned something new, he would bring it home to teach her.
“He was teaching me all these different techniques and I found the fun in it, like it was fun but also really competitive,” says Arabella. Taking part in her first competition at around six years old, Arabella came in second and from there caught the competition bug.
Now looking ahead, while she has some provincial and national competitions ahead of her, her sights are already on next year’s world championships in Greece.
“I’m really looking forward to getting a higher place next year, but I just really like getting medals,” she says.
When asked how it felt to watch Arabella find such success in the sport he loves, Gavin said it was like looking in the mirror.
While he has now taken on more of a teaching role when it comes to arm wrestling, Gavin is also hoping to qualify for the 2027 world championships. Not only would this mark his first international competition, but it would also provide a special opportunity for him to compete alongside his daughter.
