Vikki Espinosa

Current Residence: Portland, Ore.
Club: NW Fencing and PDX Fencing
Coaches: Christophe Duclos (foil), Cody Mattern (epee) and Charles Randall (saber)
U.S. Ranking: No. 2 (saber), No. 2 (epee), No. 4 (foil)
World Ranking: No. 23 (epee), No. 25 (foil)
Wheelchair World Championship Teams: 2015
In 2014, at a NAC in her hometown of Portland, Oregon, she discovered she was eligible for wheelchair fencing due to the nerve damage. She began fencing sabre in October 2014 at PDX Fencing with Coach Charles Randall and teammate Leo Curtis. Once she realized that sabre wasn’t a Paralympic event for women, she began training foil and epee at NW Fencing with Coaches Christophe Duclos, Cody Mattern and Simon Abram. Espinosa is married with two children. Her oldest daughter fences competitively and her youngest is an aspiring circus performer.  She lives in Portland, Oregon and loves traveling. She speaks English, Portuguese, Spanish and a little bit of French.

Personal

In 2009, Espinosa suffered a catastrophic knee injury playing indoor soccer. The full lateral dislocation of her knee caused a tibia fracture, torn meniscus, ruptured ACL, PCL and MCL and peroneal nerve damage leaving her with a foot drop. In 2012, she rolled her ankle on the same leg and ruptured her patella tendon. She was left frustrated and unhappy that she could no longer run or compete in able-bodied sports. In 2011, as part of her rehabilitation and commitment to not being stopped by her injury, she walked two legs of the Portland to Coast Relay Walk and climbed to the top of a volcano on Floreana Island in Galapagos. It helped her achieve some goals, but never filled her need for competition.

Results

2016:

• Gold - USA Fencing National Championships (Wheelchair Saber)
• Silver - USA Fencing National Championships (Wheelchair Epee)
• Silver - USA Fencing National Championships (Wheelchair Foil) 
• 26th - Laval Wheelchair World Cup (Category A Epee)
• 26th - Laval Wheelchair World Cup (Category A Foil)

2015:

• Gold - USA Fencing National Championships (Wheelchair Saber)
• Gold - March North American Cup (Wheelchair Epee)
• Silver - USA Fencing National Championships (Wheelchair Epee)
• Silver - March North American Cup (Wheelchair Foil)
• Silver - March North American Cup (Wheelchair Saber)
• Silver - October North American Cup (Wheelchair Saber)
• Bronze - USA Fencing National Championships (Wheelchair Foil)
• Bronze - Pan American Wheelchair Championships (Category A Epee)
• Bronze - Pan American Wheelchair Championships (Category A Foil)
• Bronze - January North American Cup (Wheelchair Epee)
• Bronze - January North American Cup (Wheelchair Saber)
• Bronze - October North American Cup (Wheelchair Epee)
• Bronze - October North American Cup (Wheelchair Foil)
• 21st - Montreal Wheelchair World Cup (Category A Foil)
• 22nd - Wheelchair World Championships (Category A Epee)
• 23rd - Montreal Wheelchair World Cup (Category A Epee)
• 25th - Pisa Wheelchair World Cup (Category A Epee) 
• 25th - Wheelchair World Championships (Category A Foil)
• 28th - Pisa Wheelchair World Cup (Category A Foil)
• 31st - Sharjah Wheelchair World Cup (Category A Foil)