USA Shine at Cadet Level

The 2016 Cadet World Championships began in Bourges, France on 1^st April with three days of individual events followed by a day of mixed teams.

Day One

Women’s Foil

It was a disappointing day for the British contingent.  Kayleigh De Lange did not win any of her first round fights and was eliminated.  Yasmin Campbell (V4D2) and Isabella Gill (V2D4) did progress and with a field of just eighty-eight received byes through the incomplete round of 128.  Both lost in the next round – Campbell losing 15-11 to Taranenko (UKR) and Gill 15-7 to Papone (ITA). 

Sylvie Binder (USA) won the World title, beating Sera Azuma (JPN) 15-12 in the final.  The bronze medals went to Lara Bertola (ITA) and Stefani Derschner (USA). 

GB placings:  Campbell 33, Gill 54 & De Lange 83=. 

Men’s Sabre

It was also a difficult day for the British team in the men’s event.  James Edwards, Zachary Hamilton and Samuel Rooney all won two from six fights in the first round and received byes through the incomplete round of 128.  In the round of 64 Neri (ITA) defeated Edwards 15-5, Pysarenko (UKR) beat Hamilton 15-4 and Tselyshev (RUS) knocked out Rooney 15-7. 

Matteo Neri (ITA) beat Erwin Cai (USA) 15-13 to win the World Championships title as Vladislav Pozdnyakov (RUS) and Artem Tselyshev (RUS) picked up the bronze medals. 

GB placings:  Rooney 60, Hamilton 61 & Edwards 63.

Day Two

Men’s Epee

The best British result in this event came from George Morris who made the round of 32.  Four first round victories gave him a bye through the incomplete round of 128 which was followed by a nerve-wracking 15-14 victory over Andrasfi (HUN).  Lee (KOR) ended his hopes in the round of 32, beating him 15-12. 

Robert MacLennan and James Russell both won two fights in the first round but both went out in the 128 – 15-14 to El Choueiry (LIB) and 15-7 to Bonferroni (SUI), respectively.

The World title went to Daniel De Mola (ITA) who beat his teammate, Gienpaolo Buzzacchino 15-14 in the final.  The bronze medals were awarded to Jakub Jurka (CZE) and Adrien Thein-Sandler (USA).

GB placings:  Morris 25, Russell 83 & MacLennan 87.

Women’s Sabre

Caitlin Maxwell was Britain’s top performer in this event.  She stormed through the first round dropping just one fight and faced teammate Lizzie Moffat in the round of 64.  A 15-9 victory took her through to the round of 32 where she lost 15-12 to Takashima (JPN).  Maia Fashokun also made the elimination stages but fell to the same Japanese fencer 15-8. 

Ywen Lau became Singapore’s first fencing World Champion at any level, beating Larissa Eifler (GER) 15-14 in the gold medal match.  Sarah Noutcha (FRA) and Liza Pusztai (HUN) picked up the bronze medals. 

GB placings: Maxwell 18, Fashokun 45 & Moffat 55. 

Day Three

Women’s Epee

Laura Sheffield was the top British athlete in this event.  She won two of her five first round matches and faced teammate Charlotte Summers in the round of 64.  A tight match followed but Summers prevailed 15-14.  In the next round, her Serbian opponent, Grijak, edged another close one 15-14.  Eliza Woodhouse also made the elimination rounds but lost 15-11 to Schlier (ROU) in the round of 64.

Alessandra Bozza (ITA) dominated the gold medal match, beating Tatijana Stewart (USA) 15-7 to take the World title.  Beatrice Cagnin (ITA) and Renata Petri (HUN) went home with the bronze medals.

GB placings:  Sheffield 63, Summer 67 & Woodhouse 83.

Men’s Foil

Three British fencers took part in this event and all three made elimination rounds – Dominic Almeida (V3D3), Sebastian Pallier (V4D2) and Isaac Jolley (V2D4).  Pallier had a bye through the round of 128 and was joined in the 64 by Jolley who beat Villapalos (ESP) 15-12.  De Almeida lost 15-13 to Brusco (VEN).  Both Pallier and Jolley were eliminated in the next round by Varas (ARG) 15-2 and Tan (SIN), respectively.

Geofferey Tourette (USA) marched to the World title with a convincing 15-2 victory over Kirill Borodachev (RUS).  Luis Klein (GER) and Tomasso Marini (ITA) picked up the bronze medals.

GB placings: Pallier 38, Jolley 59 & De Almeida 65.

Day Four

Mixed Team

A new format of the mixed team event was on show in Bourges.  The order of fights was determined ahead of the competition – men’s epee followed by women’s epee, men’s sabre, women’s sabre, men’s foil and then women’s foil.  The “accumulator” system was used but each target score was a multiple of ten – making the winning score 60 points.  Each fight was broken into two 3 minute periods (if required).

Great Britain faced Mexico in the round of 32 and beat them 60-39.  Italy was their opponents in the next round and proved too strong, knocking the British team out 60-30.  Britain went on to beat Canada 60-57 and Singapore 60-58 before losing to Germany 60-48 to finish tenth.

The USA won a tight final against Russia 60-57 and Italy took the bronze medal, beating Hungary 605-0.

Full results can be found here.