Caitlin Maxwell storms to silver in Hungary

Truro Fencing Club’s, Caitlin Maxwell, 15 years old, took the silver medal at the Cadet Sabre Circuit event in Godollo, Hungary at the weekend.

Caitlin was part of a massive field of 163 fencers but started the day well dropping just one of her five first round matches.  Things did not go as well for her in the second round as one fencer was forced to pull out and she lost two of her remaining five matches.  Ranked 52^nd for the direct elimination stages she went on to beat Martyna Maksym (POL) 15-13, the number 13 seed, Sabina Martis (ROU) 15-12, Guilia Arpino (SUI) 15-5 and Vivien Domagala (GER) 15-10 to make the quarterfinal.  Winning those fights meant that she did not have to contend with the repechage.

A strong performance against Maria Guseva (RUS) saw her make the semi-final with a 15-9 victory.  There she faced another Russian and the number two seed, Alexandra Klimova.  She fell behind early on but took an 8-7 lead into the break.  In the second period she opened up a three hit lead which she held until the end of the match – winning 15-13 with her trademark parry riposte.  In the final she faced her third Russian in a row, Olga Nikitina and fell 4-1 behind early on.  She then rallied to lead 11-7 but the Russian fenced well and managed to level the scores at 13-13.  Two fast attacks from Nikitina saw her take the title 15-13.

It is worth noting that Caitlin was the youngest finalist and has another season of cadet fencing ahead of her.  It was a good day for Truro Fencing Club as Maria Chart also made the top eight.

Truro’s Head Coach, Jon Salfield, today said; “This is a fantastic result for Caitlin who showed maturity beyond her years at one of the toughest events on the cadet circuit.  It is very pleasing that with Maria Chart’s quarterfinal finish we have the strength in depth to put two GB fencers in the top eight at such a strong event.”

Full results can be found here.