Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Don't let her size fool you—when it comes to boxing, 17-year-old Talia Birch is all power.
The Quebec teenager recently notched her sixth win in the boxing ring. Not bad considering she had never set foot in one until two years ago.
“I became obsessed, I am obsessed with it, so that's how it happened,” Birch told CTV National News.
“While you're fighting, there is honestly nothing going through your head, it's instinct, you just act on it.”
She threw her first punch in her basement as a way to stay active during the pandemic. Nine months later, she was lacing up her gloves for her first fight.
Birch was so nervous about competing for the first time that it felt like her legs gave out before the fight.
“I couldn't even warm up because all of my air was sucked out from my body from the stress,” she said. “But then as soon as the bell rang, it was smooth, it was a fun fight.”
The undefeated boxer is now gearing up for the Canada Games in Prince Edward Island later this month, where female boxers will square off for the very first time.
“It's crazy,” Birch said. “I'm so excited to be a part of those girls.”
The Canada Games is a multi-sport event with a winter sports and a summer sports version that alternate every two years. It’s the highest level of national competition for Canadian athletes in sports such as boxing, alpine ski, karate, archery and fencing, among others.
“To think that I've already made it this far already is crazy to me,” Birch said.
Her coach, Jamaal Garner, isn’t as surprised. He said he saw his protege's potential the second time they met.
What Birch has is “natural power,” he told CTV National News.
“Natural ability to throw the punch with power, with ease, (and) not be as fatigued doing it.”
But her quick rise in the sport is still exceptional, he added.
“It's her work ethic,” Garner said. “Her work ethic and willingness and obsession with the sport that sets her apart. I've never seen anyone else as dedicated.”
Birch says she dreams of turning pro and one day donning the maple leaf at another high-profile tournament—the Olympics.
With files from Alexandra Mae Jones
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
As some family doctors are retiring and others are moving away from family medicine, there are fewer medical students to take their place.
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
The proposed merger of agricultural giants Viterra and Bunge is raising competition concerns from the federal government.
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.
NASA has finally heard back from Voyager 1 again in a way that makes sense. The most distant spacecraft from Earth hadn't sent home any understandable data since last November.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.