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