Breaking new ground at the first senior tournament of the year.
The first ‘major’ British Fencing tournament of the year returned to the EIS in Sheffield on 27th and 28th April 2024, with the pistes laid out on the familiar indoor running tracks in the Athletics Arena. The event was split: individual competition on the Saturday, followed by team competition on the Sunday alongside a unique event for D/E/U ranked fencers as well.
While the event was missing a handful of senior internationals on duty at the Olympic Zonals final in Differdange, Luxembourg, all other categories were at very much at full strength. Almost 300 of the UK’s best fencers competed on the Saturday in all six weapons, with the largest and toughest field being men’s epee.
In that category, Ben Andrews triumphed over Tristan Lumineau 15-6. “I think I managed the fight quite well.” he said afterwards. “I had the fitness in my legs in the end to get the fight over the line.” Andrews will be heading for the European Championships in June. In women’s epee, Susan Maria Sica won a third British title beating Kaya Burrows, and will also be in the squad heading for the Europeans.
In women’s foil, Amelie Tsang defended her senior British title from 2023, after only returning to competitions in January, as she had been forced to take the beginning of the season off with an elbow injury. Tsang, last year’s world champion at cadet level, is in her last year at school and is concentrating on her exams this year, but afterwards intends to return to full-time fencing.
Kamal Minott had had a long wait to be British champion in men’s foil, but finally achieved it beating Jaimie Cook in a tight final 15-13 which saw a long break due to a minor injury to Cook. Minott gave his GBR teammate full respect: “During the final fight, I thought about intention to finish, because Jaimie is so strong and so good with counter-attacks as well, so I have to believe in every single hit that I’m going to make.” he said.
In sabre, Curtis Miller triumphed over Dan Twine in the tightest match of the day, going to 14-14. It was Miller’s first national title in a long career which is more focused on coaching these days. “It’s perseverance.” he said. “It’s been a long time, and yeah, I feel I’m on top of the world right now.” In women’s sabre, Maria Chart won despite dropping two poule fights, eventually defeating Truro teammate Lexie Craze 15-11.
Sunday saw a a unique competition for D/E/U rated club fencers in epee and foil, which saw a handful of entries just over a month ago blossom into 73 entries. Fencers of all ages contested the tournament, including novices, students and veterans of many decades.
The competition was designed to give lower-ranked fencers a full competition experience as well as encourage people to remain in the sport. The men’s and women’s epee was won by Reggie Chamberlain-Wilde and Megan Upton, and the men’s foil was won by Matthew Abrahams and the women’s by Amelia Price.
The championship finals were streamed fully on YouTube for the first time, after BF decided to move away from the Recast platform used at previous events. With many in the fencing community returning to the EIS in just a week’s time for the BYCs, this was a well-organised and strong opener to the schedule of major tournaments this year.
Images and reels are available here: British Fencing Instagram
Photos from the event including all podiums are available on our SmugMug page: British Senior Championships 2024
Replays of the finals are available here: British Fencing YouTube
Full fencing results, including team results are available here.
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