The best results for the US on Friday came in Legnano, Italy where the women’s epee event is occurring. Four of the nine US athletes who competed on Friday advanced to the table of 64. Katharine Holmes advanced directly from pool play after going 6-0 in her group while Kelley Hurley, Katarzyna Trzopek, and Catherine Nixon all advanced from the preliminary knockout rounds by winning a match. Charlene Liu lost 15-13 to Ida Finizio of Italy and Amanda Sirico lost to Francesca Boscarelli of Italy 15-9.

In Paris only two of the 12 Americans advanced to the table of 64. Those two, Jason Pryor and Alexander Tsinis, both had to advance from the preliminary knockout rounds. Pryor even advanced after going just 2-3 in pool play. Being eliminated in round two of the knockout rounds were Gabriel Canaux 15-11 to Matteo Tagliariol of Italy, Benjamin Freiman 15-13 to Maxime Brinck-Croteau of Canada, Alen Hadzic 15-11 to Alexandre Bouzaid of Senegal, and Curtis McDowald 15-12 to Quentin Lucani of France.

Over in Tauberbischofsheim only Jessie Laffey advanced from preliminaries after winning a match against Germany’s Sophia Werner of Germany 15-9. Stefani Deschner and Madison Zeiss both advanced from pool play but lost to German opposition. Deschner 15-12 to Pia Ueltgesforth and Zeiss 14-10 to Kim Kirschen.

Saturday’s table of 64 will feature five Americans in Legnano, two in Paris, and four in Tauberbischofsheim.

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Preview

The final three world cup stops on the fencing circuit are this weekend in Europe. The women’s foil event takes place in Tauberbischofsheim, Germany, the women’s epee event is in Legnano, Italy, and the men’s epee event is in Paris, France.

Most of the US athletes, including all 12 in Paris, will need to go through the preliminary round to qualify for the table of 64 however three of the eight in Tauberbischofsheim, Lee Kiefer, Nzingha Prescod, and Nicole Ross, and one of the 10 in Legnano, Courtney Hurley, will be exempt from preliminaries and awarded spots directly in the table of 64.

In all three cities the preliminaries are on Friday, the table of 64 is on Saturday, and the team events are Sunday.

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Madrid, Foshan, and St. Petersburg Recap

After not winning any individual medals on Saturday both American teams rebounded on Sunday reaching the finals of both world cup events but failing to win gold. The men’s foil team of Gerek Meinhardt, Alexander Massialas, Race Imboden, and Miles Chamley-Watson easily dispatched Austria before a 45-41 victory over Japan placed them into the semifinals. After clinching a medal by defeating hosts Russia in the semifinals 45-40 the Americans were on the wrong end of the scoreline to Italy by a 45-38 score in the final.

Over in Madrid it was Eli Dershwitz, Jeff Spear, Daryl Homer, and Peter Souders competing in men’s sabre Seeded third the US cruised in knocking out Great Britain 45-33, Italy 45-35, and Russia 45-38 to advance to the final. There they met Germany and despite holding the lead after five of the first six matches Germany scored 18 of the final 23 points to pull away for a 45-35 victory.

There would be no medal for the women’s sabre team in Foshan, China. The team of Mariel Zagunis, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Monica Aksamit, and Sage Palmedo breezed through the first two rounds but lost to Russia in the semifinals 45-37. Still competing for a medal the US came closer but lost again to Poland in the bronze medal match 45-42.

Both sabre and foil still have an individual grand prix event left in the 2015-16 world cup season, sabre in Moscow starting May 27th and foil in Shanghai starting June 3rd.

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Madrid, Foshan, and St. Petersburg Preview
Day 1 Update
Day 2 Update

Mariel Zagunis won a bronze medal in Foshan, China on Saturday, the only American to reach the semifinals between the three Fencing World Cup events around the globe. Zagunis’ closest test in the first four rounds was a 15-13 win in the round of 16 over Jiyeon Seo of Korea. Zagunis lost in the semifinals 15-13 to eventual champ Olga Kharlan of Ukraine. Zagunis gave Kharlan the closest match she faced all day. Ibtihaj Muhammad, who like Zagunis had a bye to table of 64, advanced twice before losing 15-12 to Anna Marton of Hungary in the round of 16. Monica Aksamit, who went 6-0 in pool play Friday, advanced once before losing 15-13 to Ekaterina Dyachenko of Russia. Dyachenko took out Kamali Thompson in the first round 15-4. Also losing in the first round was Francesca Russo, 15-5 to quarterfinalist Cecilia Berder of France, and Sage Palmedo 15-9 to runner-up Jiyeon Kim of Korea. Zagunis, Muhammad, Aksamit, and Palmedo compete as a team on Saturday.

No medals were won by the 13 Americans competing in knockout competition at the other two Fencing World Cup events on Saturday, and in fact only one made the round of 16. The most successful of the US competitors was in St. Petersburg where Gerek Meinhardt got three wins to start the day before losing to Russian Dmitri Rigine in the quarterfinals 15-13. Rigine was the runner-up overall. Alexander Massialas won one match before losing 15-6 to Andrea Baldini of Italy. Baldini went on to advance to the semifinals. Race Imboden and Miles Chamley-Watson both lost their opening matches, Imboden in a tight one 15-14 to Xiaolong Wu of China and Chamley-Watson in a close one as well 15-14 to Alaaeldin Abourlkassim of Egypt. These four will compete as a team on Sunday.

Over in Madrid it was a quick day for most of the Americans. Just one of the six Americans who had to compete in preliminaries advanced to the table of 64, Will Spear. Evan Prochniak, Phillipe Guy, and Andrew Doddo all won their opening match before losing in the second while Colin Campbell and Kamar Skeete lost their opening matches. Spear ended up facing off against fellow American Eli Dershwitz in the round of 64 and lost 15-8. Dershwitz himself was gone one round later after losing 15-14 to Alin Badea of Romania. Jeff Spear had an easy opening win but lost in the round of 32 as well, 15-12 to Vincent Anstett of France. The final American, Daryl Homer, was upset badly in round one 15-3 by Sanguk Oh of Korea. Dershwitz, Homer, Jeff Spear, and Peter Souders (who was winless in pool play and eliminated) will compete as a team for the US on Sunday.

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Madrid, Foshan, and St. Petersburg Preview
Day 1 Update

Seven of the ten Americans competing in pool play at the World Cup event in Madrid advanced on Friday but headlining the bunch was Jeff Spear who went a perfect 6-0 to grab one of 16 available byes to the table of 64 from pool play. Also finishing with winning records in pool play were Philippe Guy, Evan Prochniak, Will Spear, and Colin Campbell. Going winless on the day and being eliminated were Peter Sounders, Deniz Berkay, and Gabriel Armijo. While Spear, Daryl Homer, and Eli Dershwitz have byes to the table of 64 the other six Americans will have to win two matches to reach the table of 64.

Over in St. Petersburg all four of the Americans competing, Alexander Massialas, Gerek Meinhardt, Race Imboden, and Miles Chamley-Watson, will start play in the table of 64. The complete individual knockout rounds will take place on Saturday in both cities.

Finally in Foshan Monica Aksamit went a perfect 6-0 in pool play to earn a spot in the table of 64. Francesca Russo, Kamali Thompson, and Sage Palmedo all won their preliminary matches to advance to the table of 64 where the US will have six athletes.

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Madrid, Foshan, and St. Petersburg Preview

Fencing World Cup events begin Friday in Madrid, Spain, Foshan, China, and St. Petersburg, Russia with 22 Americans among those set to compete. Madrid will be the site for the men’s sabre athletes who are competing, 12 of whom are Americans. St. Petersburg competition will be of the men’s foil discipline and has four Americans competing. Six women’s sabre athletes from the US are competing in Foshan. These are the first three of six world cup events this month, one for each discipline and gender.

In Madrid two of the Americans, Daryl Homer and Eli Dershwitz, are straight into the table of 64 while the other 10 will have to compete in pool play to advance to the 156-man knockout competition. In St. Petersburg all four of the Americans competing, Alexander Massialas, Gerek Meinhardt, Race Imboden, and Miles Chamley-Watson, are going straight into the table of 64 and won’t start competing until Saturday. In Foshan Ibtihaj Muhammad and Mariel Zagunis have spots in the table of 64.

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Rio Grand Prix Recap

To put a quick wrap on the epee grand prix event that was held in Rio this weekend, Jason Pryor managed to advance from the first round on Sunday before being eliminated in his second match. Both matches were scored 15-13 with German opponents both time. Pryor defeated Stephan Rein before losing to Constantin Boehm. Boehm went on to reach the quarterfinals.

Fencing competition is not done though in Rio as the world championships begin Monday. It’s an Olympic year so the World Fencing Championships are not featuring most of the fencing disciplines. The only events held are the two that won’t be held at the Olympics, the team competitions for men’s sabre and women’s foil. Those events start on Monday with the competitions narrowing down to the top eight teams in each event.

For the US in the men’s sabre competition the team consists of Eli Dershwitz, Peter Souders, Daryl Homer, and Jeff Spear and is the #1 seed in the competition. The women’s foil team of Nzingha Prescod, Sabrina Massialas, Nicole Ross, and Lee Kiefer is the #4 seed. Both will have real shots at medaling this week.

In the women’s foil the US will start with a match against #13 seed Colombia on Monday. Colombia was not among the 18 women’s foil teams that qualified for the 2015 World Championships and is ranked #32 in the world so the US will be a heavy favorite to advance to Tuesday’s quarterfinals where their likely opponent would be #5 seed and 2015 bronze medalist France.

Over in men’s sabre the US as the #1 seed has a first round bye and will face the Japan-Canada winner for a spot in the quarterfinals. Canada is #19 in the world with Japan #22. Those two countries actually met in the same round in 2015 with Canada winning but being eliminated in the round of 16. The men’s sabre quarterfinals are not until Wednesday.

The world cup fencing events resume with a men’s sabre event in Madrid and a men’s foil event in St. Petersburg starting May 13th. The next epee events will be for the women in Legnano, Italy and for the men in Paris, France both starting May 20th.

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix Preview
Friday Update
Saturday Update

Only one of the three American women competing in the table of 64 on Saturday won a match. That was Courtney Hurley, the only one to advance from the preliminary round, and she won multiple times. Hurley dominated her first two matches 15-3 and 15-4 before finally being tested in the round of 16 where she won 15-11.

The test got really tough though in the quarterfinals where she faced #2 Anqi Xu of China and lost a really close match 11-10. Xu went on to finish second. Kelley Hurley and Katharine Holmes both lost their opening matches, Hurley to Coraline Vitalis of France 15-14 and Holmes to Francesca Boscarelli of Italy 15-9.

Sunday Jason Pryor will compete in the men’s table of 64.

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix Preview
Friday Update

There wasn’t a lot of success for the US fencers on Friday in the preliminary rounds for the epee grand prix event. Only one man and one woman advanced from the preliminaries, joining the two women who were already qualified directly to the table of 64. Joining Kelley Hurley and Katharine Holmes in the table of 64 will be Courtney Hurley. She advanced by going 5-1 in her pool and earning a spot in the table of 64 for being one of the 16 best women in pool play. Two other American women were eliminated in pool play: Natalie Vie and Katarzyna Trzopek who both went 2-4.

Trzopek missed out on a spot in the preliminary knockout matches for the last six spots in the table of 64 by hits scored, two less than the final qualifier, while Vie missed out on indicator score as her aggregate score was -5 in pool play while Trzopek and the last qualifier had -2 scores. Kelly Hurley will be seeded 12th, Holmes 15th, and Courtney Hurley 26th in the table of 64 so hopefully the US will have some success on Saturday.

On the men’s side Jason Pryor went 5-1 to grab one of the 16 spots advancing to the table of 64 from pool play while on the low end Lewis Weiss went 1-5 and was eliminated after pool play. The other three Americans participated in knockout competition for the final 32 spots in the table of 64. Ariel Simmons lost 15-10 to Nelson Lopez Pourtier of France, Dennis Kraft lost 15-13 to Satoru Uyama of Japan, and Alen Hadzic lost 15-6 to Martin Capek of the Czech Republic. Pryor will be seeded 27th in the table of 64 on Sunday. 

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix Preview

The final epee grand prix event is this week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for both the men and women. Five women and five men will compete for the US this weekend. The top 16 fencers for both genders have gotten a bye from preliminaries and will begin on Saturday (for the women) and Sunday (for the men) in the table of 64. No US men have a top 16 seed but Kelley Hurley and Katharine Holmes have seeds for the women. The preliminary pools and knockout rounds take place on Friday.