Last weekend, twenty-two year old Londoner, Alexander Lloyd began his season at the Barcelona Men’s Foil Under-23 European Circuit event by claiming silver. He lost to the 2018 World Championship bronze medallist, Carlos Llavador in the final.
Competing in a field of seventy-nine, Lloyd won all of his first round fights meaning a fourth place seeding for the knockout rounds. He went on to beat Andreu (ESP) 15-4, Mangiarott (ITA)15-3, Pachon (ESP) 15-6 and Cai (CAN) 15-14 to make the semi-final stage.
There, he faced his Argentinian club mate, Augusto Servello and with both fencers knowing each other well, it was a close contest. Both fencers made full use of the piste, resulting in an end-to-end exciting battle. In the end, Lloyd took the victory 15-13 with a free flowing attack, which he finished on his opponent’s back.
In the final, he faced tournament favourite, Carlos Llavador (ESP). Lloyd kept the fight close at the beginning by using short distance to land his attacks and stifle the Spaniard’s. Llavador found another gear though and started to find a way through Lloyd’s defence. Despite a late rally from Lloyd, Llavdor took the fight 15-8.
Speaking after the event Lloyd said, “Overall I am very happy with my performance. At the end of last season I changed coach, to move to a style that I feel suits the direction I want to take my fencing. A lot of changes had to be made; some minor and some not so minor! It’s been a gradual process of implementing these, which is taking time, given that I am a full time student. However, as from this result, I feel it to be a positive change.”
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