Over a thousand promising young athletes competed in this year’s championships.
British Fencing held their second tournament of the year, returning to EIS Sheffield on the 4th, 5th and 6th of May 2024. With many athletes travelling to Sheffield to compete, 38 pistes were laid out across the athletics track and netball court in the arena.
Competitions took place between a wide range of young athletes. The tournament had U12, U14, U16 and U18s competing across all three weapons.
Sunday saw Jacob Barr win the gold medal in the U18 Men’s Sabre. His final battle was particularly tough, where he faced his opponent Alexander Lister for the gold medal, going to match point 14-14, with Jacob winning the final point.
After the fight Jacob, still delighted from his win, said “I wasn’t expecting to win. It’s amazing. I’ve got a lot of people to be grateful for. My coaches for their support, my teammates, my friends and my parents for getting me here. I am really happy.”
“It means a lot. I’ve been fencing for 10 years now. I find fencing really fun. I’ve always wanted to do it and I want to keep doing it.”
Each day consisted of eight finals, with the top eight fencers in each category being congratulated in individual award ceremonies.
Neil Bromley, President of Swindon Fencing Club and fencing coach, looked on proudly as Emily Tingay was awarded the bronze medal for the U14 Women’s Foil.
“I was lucky enough to meet Emily at her primary school. Swindon Club runs an outreach programme, where we go into primary schools and offer four week taster sessions of fencing. I met Emily during these sessions, where she really fell in love with the sport.”
“She really stuck at it. I’m absolutely ecstatic. Last year she came to the BYCs and did the U14 Foil but sadly didn’t make it passed the direct eliminations. She’s gone away, trained really hard, and focused on what she needs to improve on. It’s a perfect ending that she’s taking home the bronze medal.”
The BYCs were supported by a huge team of referees. Many of the group are fencers who gave up their time to help out, with some being part of BF’s Athlete Development Programme.
Georgina Usher, BF’s CEO, attended the event where she delivered presentations to parents of children wanting their child to represent GBR at international championships. She also presented the winners with their medals.
Georgina said “A fantastic event. A brilliant and supportive atmosphere created by all the volunteers, the staff, the parents and the coaches supporting the children to have a fantastic British Championships experience.”
“The set up of the venue was of international quality. We had international quality referees. It was really amazing to be able to present medals to young athletes from across the UK. It gives me a great deal of positivity about the future of fencing in Britain.”
BF’s Events Manager, Evie Millar, was thrilled by the success of the weekend.
“It was a very good weekend, with lots of happy fencers and coaches. It was nice to see the community. We had some fantastic volunteers who worked very hard. And the referee team were very good.”
“A huge thank you to the venue and venue staff. Thank you to everyone who travelled for the event. And thank you to the regions for hosting qualifiers.”
Images and reels are available here: British Fencing Instagram
Photos from the event including all podiums are available on our SmugMug page: British Youth Championships 2024
Replays of the finals are available here: British Fencing YouTube
Full fencing results are available here.
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