If Lee Kiefer’s silver on Saturday made it a good weekend for the Americans Alexander Massialas made it a great weekend going one place further and notching the gold in Shanghai with a perfect 6-0 day. Massialas had no struggles early getting 15-6, 15-7, and 15-6 wins to reach the quarterfinals. There he scored a tight 15-13 win over Daniele Garozzo of Italy and backed it up with an even tighter 15-14 win over China’s Haiwei Chen to become one of the last two men standing. The final was actually largely devoid of drama with a 15-5 win over Kwanghyun Lee of Korea easily securing Massialas the gold.

The other three Americans who had byes to the table of 64 were all eliminated in the second round. Gerek Meinhardt lost 15-13 to Great Britain’s Laurence Halsted, Race Imboden lost to Haiwei Chen of China 15-5, and Miles Chamley-Watson lost 15-9 to France’s Erwan Le Pechoux. Chen you might remember went on to lose to Massialas in the semifinals. The American who had advanced from the preliminaries, Axel Kiefer, lost 15-8 to Russia’s Dmitry Rigin.

This was the end of the fencing world cup grand prix events. Next up all of the fencing disciplines will compete in Panama City starting June 20th.

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Moscow Recap
Day 1 Update
Day 2 Update

For the second straight weekend an American woman won a silver in a fencing grand prix event. Last weekend it was Mariel Zagunis in sabre in Moscow, this weekend it was Lee Kiefer in foil in Shanghai. Kiefer started off in dominant fashion with 15-6, 15-7, and 15-5 before a close, if you can call it that, 15-11 win to reach the semifinals. Kiefer again breezed 15-5 in the semifinals but finally ran into trouble in the final where she was defeated 15-8 by Arianna Errigo of Italy. Also finding some success for the US was Nzingha Prescod. She won her first two matches 15-12 and 15-10 but lost 15-7 to France’s Ysaora Thibus in the round of 16. Getting upset in the first round was Nicole Ross 15-13 by Colombia’s Saskia Loretta Van Erven Garcia and also losing was Madison Zeiss 15-15 to Hungary’s Fanny Kreiss.

On the men’s side advancing from the preliminary competition was a 50-50 proposition for the Americans. Drew Johnston and Axel Kiefer both advanced from pool play but had diverging paths in their knockout match. Both were scored 15-10 but Johnston was on the wrong end to Austria’s Johannes Poscharn Ig and Kiefer was victorious over Japan’s Daiki Fujino. Kiefer joins the four other Americans, Alexander Massialas, Gerek Meinhardt, Race Imboden, and Miles Chamley-Watson, in the table of 64 for Sunday’s competition.

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Moscow Recap
Day 1 Update

It was 50-50 for the two American women trying to earn a spot in the table of 64 in Friday’s preliminaries for the foil grand prix event in Shanghai. Amy Jia only managed to win one of her six pool matches and was eliminated there but Madison Zeiss went 4-2 and earned a knockout match for a spot in the table of 64. Zeiss got 13-8 win over China’s Jiaxin Huang to earn a fourth US spot in the table of 64 along with Lee Kiefer, Nzingha Prescod, and Nicole Ross who all had byes into the table of 64.

The men’s competition gets underway with two Americans in the preliminaries: Drew Johnston and Axel Kiefer. Four other Americans, Alexander Massialas, Gerek Meinhardt, Race Imboden, and Miles Chamley-Watson, already have spots in the table of 64 locked up.

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Moscow Recap

Eleven Americans have their sights set on gold in Shanghai at the final foil grand prix stop for the 2015-16 season. Six of those are men that won’t start their competition until Saturday. Friday the women’s competition gets underway with the preliminary round, though only two of the five American women, Amy Jia and Madison Zeiss, will be competing in this round. Lee Kiefer, Nzingha Prescod, and Nicole Ross all have byes into the table of 64 on Saturday.

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Moscow Recap

A fantastic Sunday for Mariel Zagunis brought the two-time Olympic gold medalist to the brink of the championship this weekend but she had to settle for second in a rematch of the 2012 Olympic bronze medal match. Zagunis cruised with 15-10, 15-5, 15-11, and 15-7 to reach the semifinals. There she faced a tough battle with Italy’s Irene Vecchi but emerged victorious 15-13. Facing off against Ukraine’s Olga Kharlan, the woman who beat her for bronze in London, Zagunis lost by that same 15-13 scoreline. Two of the other Americans advanced from the first round before losing their second match. Monica Aksamit had a big 15-4 win to open but lost 15-10 to Italy’s Rossella Gregorio while Dagmara Wozniak lost 15-5 to Zagunis’ semfinal opponent, Irene Vecchi. The only American who failed to record a win in the table of 64 this weekend was Ibtihaj Muhammad who lost 15-12 to Olena Kravatska of Ukraine.

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Moscow Preview
Day 1 Update
Day 2 Update

Things went a lot better for the American men competing on Saturday as all three won at least once and while no one reached the quarterfinals they had a combined 5-3 record. Jeff Spear was the first knocked out as he 15-11 to Aliaksandr Buikevich of Belarus. Eli Dershwitz and Daryl Homer both lost in the round of 16 to semifinalists. Dershwitz lost 15-9 to China’s Yingming Xu, who went on to finish second. Homer lost to Russia’s Nikolay Kovalev 15-14.

In the women’s preliminaries only one of the six American women advanced to the table of 64. Monica Aksamit went a perfect 6-0 in pool play and earned one of the 16 spots straight to the table of 64 from pool play. On the other extreme only one was knocked out in pool play, Celina Merza after going 1-5. All four of the US women who got into the preliminary knockout round lost their match. Francesca Russo 15-9 to Ukraine’s Olena Kravatska, Sarah Merza 15-8 to Italy’s Chiara Mormile, Sage Palmedo 15-14 to China’s Xueqian Zhang, and Kamali Thompson 15-9 to France’s Caroline Queroli. Aksamit joins Mariel Zagunis, Ibtihaj Muhammad, and Dagmara Wozniak in the table of 64 for Sunday’s competition.

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Moscow Preview
Day 1 Update

Not a lot of success among the five Americans competing in the preliminaries of the sabre grand prix event in Moscow on Friday. Only one of the five, Jeff Spear, even advanced from their pool to the preliminary table of 64. Leonard Alexander Walker (1-5), Christopher Walker (2-4), Will Spear (2-4), Gabriel Armijo (0-6) all were knocked out in pool play. Jeff Spear won his knockout match 15-5 to join Eli Dershwitz, and Daryl Homer in the table of 64. On the women’s side the preliminaries begin with six Americans competing on Saturday.

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Moscow Preview

The men’s and women’s sabre fencers wrap up their World Cup schedule with a Grand Prix stop in Moscow this weekend. Seven men and nine women will take part for the US with five advancing straight to the table of 64. On the men’s side advancing will be Eli Dershwitz, and Daryl Homer and on the women’s side Mariel Zagunis, Ibtihaj Muhammad, and Dagmara Wozniak. The men’s preliminary round is on Friday with the finals on Saturday while the women will start with the preliminary round on Saturday and the finals on Sunday.

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Last Weekend Recap

Just like on Saturday the best result of the day for the US came in Tauberbischofsheim. Unfortunately this time it didn’t result in a medal. Lee Kiefer, Nicole Ross, Nicole Prescod, and Madison Zeiss cruised by Sweden in their opener and held off Germany 45-38 before running into problems in the semifinals. Italy defeated them 45-36 after leading after eight of the nine matches. In the bronze medal match against France the US lost 45-40 and led after every match but one.

In Legnano, Italy the US team of Courtney Hurley, Katharine Holmes, Katarzyna Trzopek, and Kelley Hurley lost their opening match 37-28 to Hungary before winning their next two to advance to the ninth place match against Poland. Poland got the better of the US there 35-29.

Finally in Paris the US team of Jason Pryor, Alen Hadzic, Alex House, and Yeisser Ramirez saw 45-27 scores in both of their opening matches. They beat Finland in the opener but lost to #1 France in the second. The US beat Estonia 45-26 but lost to the Czech Republic 45-34 to end up in the 11th place match. The US beat Poland there 42-31.

With the final epee grand prix event having been in Rio last month the next main even for them will be the Pan American Championships in Panama City, Panama starting June 20th. The foil athletes will compete in the grand prix in Shanghai next on June 3rd.

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Preview
Day 1 Update
Day 2 Update

The best result of the day for the US came in Tauberbischofsheim where Lee Kiefer won her first four matches as she went on to win a bronze medal. Starting from the #3 seed Kiefer won all four of her opening matches by scores of 15-10 or greater. Running into #2 seed Inna Deriglazova of Russia in the semifinals Kiefer lost 15-9 and ended up with a bronze medal. Deriglazova won the gold and no one came closer than 15-10 against her all day. Nicole Ross also had a strong day as she won three times, twice by margins of ten or more, before losing in the quarterfinals to #4 seed Elisa Di Francisca of Italy by a score of 15-12. Nicole Prescod won once before losing 14-9 to Italy’s Carolina Erba, a quarterfinalist. Finally Jessie Laffey was eliminated 15-11 in the first round by #6 Aida Shanaeva of Russia. Kiefer, Ross, Prescod, and Madison Zeiss will compete for the US in the team competition Sunday.

Only one of the five women competing in Legnano, Italy advanced at all on Saturday. Courtney Hurley, who had a bye to table of 64, won once before losing 13-12 to Giulia Rizzi of Italy. Rizzi also took out Katharine Holmes in the opening round 15-11. Rizzi would go on to finish as runner-up. Katarzyna Trzopek lost to #10 Ana Maria Popescu of Romania, a quarterfinalist, 15-9, Kelley Hurley lost 15-12 to the eventual champion, Erika Kirpu of Estonia, and Catherine Nixon lost to Auriane Mallo of France 15-7.

Finally in Paris Jason Pryor and Alexander Tsinis both lost their opening matches. Pryor lost to #5 Daniel Jerent of France by a 15-14 score, Jerent going on to reach the semifinals, while Tsinis lost to Benjamin Steffen of Switzerland 15-8. Pryor will be joined by Alen Hadzic, Alex House, and Yeisser Ramirez for the team competition on Sunday. 

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Preview
Day 1 Update