David Sosnov and Alec Brooke both took silver medals at the 2024 Cadet & Junior World Championships.
The year’s event took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from the 12th-20th April 2024. GBR landed in the capital with anticipation, with a limited set of parents and coaches, far from home in a country with significant cultural differences.
On arrival, the team were met with kindness and respect from organisers and volunteers, who ensured GBR were welcomed warmly to Riyadh.
Starting the worlds off with a bang, David Sosnov demonstrated once again his impressive ability on the opening Friday, scything through the field to eventually win a silver medal in individual Junior Men’s Foil.
David faced Ryosuke Fukuda of Japan at the last, losing out in a tough final battle 15-11, after defeating Eliot Chagnon of France 15-12 in the semi-final.
“I am extremely proud of myself and how I managed to fence throughout a long day. This all would not have been possible without the incredible support of my coach Ziemek, my family, my teammates, and all the staff at the competition. Hopefully next year the medal will be a different colour!”
Coach Ziemek Wojciechowski said: “David’s silver medal in world youth proves once more the magnitude of his talent and that his journey in fencing and development is on the right track – thanks to many years of hard work. The future of British fencing is secure with his foil skills.”
David entered the final eight with fellow teammate Jaimie Cook, who finished in seventh place out of the 181 other foilists.
Day one also saw David Kelly come top eight in Cadet Men’s Foil, in his first ever worlds. This is a promising follow-up to his bronze medal at the European Championships in February 2024.
David fought hard against Jia Bao Xu of Canada in his last match and even after being defeated, he showed excellent sportsmanship and respect towards his opponent.
The Junior Women’s Foil team events were even tougher. GBR’s women finished in 5th place, losing their final match against Italy. Carolina Stutchbury closed the gap to three points with her second fight against Vittoria Pinna, but the Italian team strode away on the last rotation to win 45-30.
Alec Brooke then won silver in the Junior Men’s Epee on the Monday after a fantastic performance throughout the day. His final battle was a particularly tough match, where he faced Switzerland’s Alban Aebersold for the gold medal, going down to the wire at 14-14, with Alec just missing out on the final point.
“Great day of fencing. Each match I felt comfortable and was on my A game.” he said afterwards. “By the time I came to the finals, I was physically and mentally tired and feeling the pressure of being so close to gold, but still very happy with my performance and result.”
Coach Tamas Kovacs, who has coached Alec since he was five, said “It was a joy to watch Alec fencing so well from the beginning. He managed to beat his biggest rivals fairly comfortably.”
“The final is hard to swallow, but we look forward to continuing to improve. And we are ready for the Olympic zonals.”
Alec will be competing in the European Olympic Zonal competition will take place in Differdange, Luxembourg at the end of April 2024. Ian Lichfield, who also coached at the worlds, extended his congratulations and thanks to coach Tamas, Alec and his parents, and Princeton Fencing for Alec’s performance.
British Fencing is particularly proud of the character shown by Reya Farlam, who has been put forward for a FIE Fair Play white card award for honesty. She competed in Cadet Women’s Epee on the Tuesday, where she finished in 106th place.
However, Reya noticed that a final result was incorrectly recorded on the scoresheet after losing her last poule match. It was recorded as a win against her opponent, when Reya had actually lost the fight. In the midst of being disappointed with her performance and not quite getting the results she had wanted, without hesitation she immediately reported the error to the referees, after which she was then eliminated.
Reya demonstrated remarkable values of honesty, respect and excellence, which makes her a great inspiration, and an exemplar of the #CallItAttitude credo.
Day six saw a great display of team spirit and resilience from both GBR men’s and women’s Junior Epee teams.
Braving some difficult fights is undoubtedly pressurising. A special moment was shared between Kirstie Urwin, from The True Athlete Project and Julia Caron. Julia lay down in order to better her focus and calm herself, so Kirstie lay down next to her, to keep her company.
The last few days of Riyadh 2024 saw the sabres in action. In particular, the junior women’s sabre team demonstrated the hard work they have been putting in this last season.
In the match against Spain, Lexi Craze scored an impressive seven points in her first fight against Valeria Verde Alonso, where the team then consistently worked together to stay ahead, winning 45-25. The team came in 9th place, just missing out on the final eight, in their last match against Italy (45-32).
British Fencing wants to give a special thanks to Federica Balbi, who was there to offer physiotherapy to support the athletes. Pat Aiyenuro, a member of the BF board, attended the world championships and expressed her gratitude for having Federica on the team.
“She was one of the most professional physios there helping our team. It’s almost like someone cloned her five times because she was just helping so many people, everywhere.”
“This support facilitated some of the good performances. Especially those who got the silver medals, they needed the support and she was always there.”
Overall the world championships were a great competition experience for the team and an amazing opportunity. Performances this year showed a huge amount of improvement and promise, where Team GB athletes will continue to gain experience and develop.
Event schedule and results for 2024 Junior & Cadet Worlds is here.
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