GBR para fencers returned from the World Cup in Bradenton, Florida, with five medals in total.
The most recent Para Fencing World Cup took place in Bradenton, Florida, on 27th-30th May 2026. It was a highly successful trip for our GBR athletes, who won five medals across individual and team events.
Day One – 27th May:
Full results:
Day Two – 28th May:
Day two saw Dimitri and Piers achieve a place on the podium in their respective Men’s Epee categories. Other highlights included a fifth-place finish from Oliver Lam-Watson.
Owing to his world ranking, Piers was exempt from the poules and went straight to the last 32 of the Men’s Epee A seeded second. His first direct elimination fight was against Nicholas Badeaux (USA), whom he promptly defeated 15-2. In the last 16, Piers put up a strong fight against China’s Jianquan Tian, taking away a 15-12 victory to go through to the quarterfinals. His next match was against Jae Hoon Sim (KOR), in which Piers won 15-3 to earn a World Cup medal. Piers’ podium journey was narrowly cut short 15-14 by Italy’s Emanuele Lambertini, who went on to take the gold medal.
Piers reflected on his performance:
“I think today was definitely ups and downs. I think some matches I was really happy with, others definitely not so much. I think for me personally, I’m kind of disappointed with my result today. I think I definitely wasn’t on the form that I could’ve been for the final match, but I think onwards and upwards for tomorrow really.”
In the Men’s Epee B event, Dimitri earned a bye into the last 16, being seeded fourth. He first defeated Balwinder Cheema (GER) 15-8, before making his way to the quarter-final against Jovane Guissone (BRA). There, Dimitri put up a strong performance to win 15-11. Having earned a place on the podium, he faced first seed Visit Kingmanaw (THA) in the semi-final. Despite being 4-8 down going into the break, Dimitri then scored a series of unbroken points to put him into the lead, ultimately winning 15-11. In the final, Dimitri faced Chitiphat Charoenta (THA), emerging victorious with a 15-12 score to take the gold medal.
Afterwards, Dimitri said:
“It was a challenging day. Had a lot of tough fights and opponents who kept changing throughout, so it was a real challenge. But the work that we put in, and we’ve got fantastic coaching and support team here. Yeah, I’m really happy to have come away with the gold today. Still have some things to look forward to, to work on when we come back, but all in all, a good day.”
Dimitri also reflected on the advice given by coach Glen Golding during his semi-final match, adding:
“I think he told me, just really set myself, make the changes that I need to make, and just have confidence. And yeah, it really worked. I had to really force myself to listen to what he was saying because it was quite stressful at the time, but it’s testament that simple advice, but the right advice at the right time, really made the difference.”
Full results:
Day Three – 29th May:
Day three saw two more medals from our GBR athletes: bronze for Gemma Collis in the Women’s Epee A, and gold for Dimitri in the Men’s Foil B.
Exempt from the poules, Gemma went straight into the last 32 seeded second, her first opponent being Stephanina Michaelis (USA). After a decisive 15-2 win, Gemma went on to face Enora Tarju (FRA) in the last 16, whom she defeated 15-12. Next up was Spain’s Judith Rodriguez Menendez, and after a strong 15-6 victory, Gemma went through to the semi-final to guarantee a World Cup medal. There, she was defeated by Xufeng Zou (CHN) 15-12 to win bronze.
Reflecting on her day, Gemma said:
“It was really good. I was really happy with how I fenced most of the day I think. The early rounds were actually quite tricky, especially my last 16. It was quite an awkward one against an opponent who I knew was really well-drilled by her coaches about what to do against me. So that was a bit of a stressful one, but overall I was really happy to come through it and I at times today, showed some of my best fencing.”
Once again, Dimitri earned a bye into the last 16 of the Men’s Foil B, seeded second. He first faced Ammar Ali (IRQ), demonstrating strength and confidence with a 15-3 win. He then met Benjun Qin (CHN) in the quarterfinal, winning 15-7 to move on to Fan Li Zhu (CHN). The semi-final match ended with a 15-9 win and a guaranteed medal for Dimitri. He once again met Thailand’s Charoenta in the final, and Dimitri won the fight 15-4 to take the gold medal.
Full results:
Day Four – 30th May:
The final day of the Bradenton World Cup featured the new para team event format that was piloted in 2025. Teams consist of four members – two men and two women, and two A and B fencers – who fight to 20 points. Gemma, Emily, Dimitri, and Oliver competed in the mixed team foil event, ultimately taking bronze.
Before the team event, Gemma said:
“I think it’s such a great thing for the sport, to have this shorter format. It’s going to be really, really competitive. You can’t afford to have one bad leg because it’s only up to 20 points. And I think to have men and women competing in a team together is really great for progressing the sport in terms of gender equality. So absolutely looking forward to it and it’ll be great to fence all as a team. We’ve not really done that, we’ve done that once before when it was first trialled in 2022. We haven’t done it since, so I’m really looking forward to getting underway.”
Seeded sixth and after earning a bye, GBR’s first fight was against Thailand in the last eight. The team had a rocky start, going into the final leg 9-15 to Thailand. An excellent eleven-point leg from Oliver, however, brought the fight back in GBR’s favour. A final score of 20-18 to GBR sent them through to the semi-final. There, the team faced Italy, and despite their best effort, GBR was ultimately defeated 18-20 to go into the bronze medal play-off against Korea. The score went back and forth between the two teams, but GBR remained strong, closing out the match 20-16 to win bronze.
Referees Christopher Farren, Mike Salter, and Sean Grundy also represented GBR at the event.
This post is related to the BF 2030 Strategy goal to Deliver GBR success. You can read more about the Strategy here.
See the full results for the 2026 Bradenton Para Fencing World Cup here.
You can watch the livestreams here.
Photos: Ginny Tory via World Abilitysport.
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