St. Maur Women’s Epee World Cup, St. Petersburg Women’s Foil World Cup & Men’s Foil Grand Prix, Bologna Women’s Sabre World Cup
Davis wins St. Petersburg Grand Prix
Four events take place in Europe over the weekend.
Women’s Epee World Cup – St Maur
Two Brits joined a field of 176 in St. Maur for this individual World Cup event. Both Lawrence (V4D2) and McGeever (V2D4) qualified for the first preliminary knockout. There, Lawrence defeated Abati (FRA) 15-9 and McGeever beat Blum (SUI) 15-14. In the second preliminary both British fencers lost, Lawrence 15-12 to Zvereva (RUS) and McGeever 15-12 to Deac (ROU). Branza (ROU) beat Szasz (HUN) 11-6 to take the gold medal whilst Embrich (EST) and Samuelsson (SWE) won the bronze medals.
Great Britain did not enter the team event that was won by Russia who beat Hungary 45-41. Romania defeated France 36-31 to take the bronze medal.
GB Individual Placings: Lawrence 76th & McGeever 94th.
Women’s Foil World Cup – St. Petersburg
Three British women’s foilists headed to Russia, joining a field of 107 in the World Cup event in St. Petersburg. Troiano (V5D1) earned herself a bye to the round of 64 whilst Sheppard (V3D3) qualified for the preliminary knockout stage. Unfortunately Cook (V0D6) did not make the first round cut and Sheppard narrowly lost her knockout 13-12 to Bingenheimer (GER). In the round of 64 Troiano beat Alborova (RUS) 15-11 but then lost 15-6 to Kiefer (USA) in the round of 32. Deriglazova (RUS) beat her compatriot Korobeynikova 15-8 to win the tournament. The bronze medals went to Golubytskyi (GER) and Thibus (FRA)
In the team event Great Britain lost 37-20 to Germany, 45-33 to Canada and China to finish 12th. Italy beat Russia 45-36 to win the gold medal whilst France defeated Korea 45-36 to take the bronze medal.
GB Individual Placings: Troiano 26th, Sheppard 68th & Cook 104th.
Men’s Foil Grand Prix – St. Petersburg
A field of 100 in St. Petersburg included five British fencers. Due to his world ranking, Kruse automatically qualified for the round of 64 where he was joined by Davis (V3D3), Mepstead (V3D2) and Melia (V3D2). Peggs (V0D6) did not make the first round cut. In the round of 64 Davis defeated Sintes 15-5 and Kruse beat Drobyshev (RUS) 15-4 but Meinhardt (USA) knocked out Mepstead 15-1 and Lefort (FRA) eliminated Melia 15-6. Both Davis and Kruse progressed through the round of 32 beating Heo (KOR) 15-9 and Journet (FRA) 15-13 respectively. Davis went on to beat world number 9, Avola (ITA) 15-12 to make his second top 8 finish in a row and he was joined by Kruse who comfortably beat Imboden (USA) 15-6. In the quarter-final Davis edged a cagey fight 9-8 in the priority minute with Braun (GER) but Aspromonte ended Kruse’s day 15-10.
In the semi-final Davis faced Akhmatkhuzin (RUS). In the first period the two traded hits early on but Davis opened up a 6-4 lead going into the first break with a well-timed riposte and a sharp beat attack. In the second period the Russian attempted to up the pace but Davis kept his composure and started to open up the lead with some well-executed counter-ripostes. As his confidence grew so did his aggression and he ended the fight with two beautiful attacks, 15-8. In the other semi-final Aspromonte (ITA) took on Massialas (USA) and the two went at each other from the start. They traded hits up to 6-6 but then Massialas pulled away eventually winning 15-10 in a little over 2mins.
In the final Davis stormed to a 3-0 lead over Massialas (USA) but the American pegged him back and started to take control. Massialas seemed keen to keep the pressure on Davis and was relentless on the attack, opening up an 11-8 lead. Davis managed to level things up at 12-12 but Massialas scored two single lights to take it to 14-12. Davis thought he’d scored a clean single light only to see the American’s off target light on. It turned out that the earthing wire for the piste had come loose and Massialas hit it. A video referral was called but was inconclusive so the score remained 14-12. Davis showed incredible composure to pick off his opponent with three parry ripostes in a row to take the Grand Prix title, 15-14.
GB Individual Placings: Davis 1st, Kruse 6th, Mepstead 53rd, Melia 54th & Peggs 95th.
Women’s Sabre World Cup – Bologna
Just two Brits joined the 142-strong field in Bologna, Italy. Hutchison (V3D3) and Kempe (V2D4) both progressed to the two-stage preliminary knockout where Kempe won her first fight against Kravchuk (TUR) 15-11 but Hutchison lost 15-13 to Di Martino (ITA). In the second preliminary Kempe was knocked out 15-9 by Muhannmed (USA) who went on to take the silver medal. She lost 15-9 to compatriot Zagunis in the gold medal match with Bianco (ITA) and Gavrilova (RUS) taking the bronze medals.
Nicoll joined Hutchison and Kempe for the team event and the three impressively beat a strong Chinese team 45-43 in the round of 16. Italy were too much for them in the round of 8 where they lost 45-22. Defeats to Russia (45-39) and Poland (45-43) saw the British team finish eighth. Ukraine beat Italy 45-42 to take the team title with France winning bronze by beating the USA 45-41.
GB Individual Placings: Kempe 94th & Hutchison 99th.
Next up on the senior international circuit the women’s epeeists head to the Barcelona World Cup, the foilist to the Tauberbischofsheim World Cup and the Men’s sabreurs go to Budapest for a Grand Prix.
Sign up to receive regular highlights from the exciting world of fencing - celebrating the best of our unique and inspiring community
