Report from the Epee World Cups in Barcelona and Heidenheim

The senior international season continued this weekend with epee events in Barcelona, Spain and Heidenheim, Germany.

Men’s Epee World Cup – Heidenheim

An unusually early start saw this World Cup begin on Thursday 22^nd January where three British fencers joined a massive field of two hundred of seventy-five.  Greg Allen and Paul Sanchez-Lethem won two of their six poules matches which meant that they did not make the first round cut.  Gareth Thomas managed three victories from six poule fights which meant that he qualified for the three-stage preliminary knockout.  His first match was against Adrian Pop (ROU) which the Romanian edged 15-12.

Swiss fencer, Max Heinzer went on to take the title beating Yannick Borel (FRA) 15-14 in a frantic gold medal match which was over in under two minutes.  Enrico Garozzo (ITA) and Robin Kase (SWE) went home with the bronze medals.

Great Britain was not one of the thirty-two entries to the team event which Korea won, beating France 30-29 in the gold medal match.  Russia beat Hungary 45-33 to take the bronze medal.

GB individual placings:  Thomas 164^th, Allen 217^th & Sanchez-Lethem 164^th.

Click here for full individual results.

Click here for full team results.

Women’s Epee World Cup – Barcelona

The women’s epee World Cup in Barcelona began on Friday 23^rd January.  The field of two hundred and thirty-three included a six-strong British contingent.  Corinna Lawrence, who won four of her six poule matches, was the only one to progress through the first round as Lindsay Bottoms (V2D4), Mary Cohen (V2D4), Hannah Lawrence (V0D6), Abbi Matthews (V1D5) and Katrina Smith (V0D6) all missed the cut.  Corinna Lawrence had a bye through the first stage of the preliminary knockouts and then went on to beat Tausan (AUS) 15-8 and Paju (EST) 15-14 to make the round of 64.  There she faced Andryushina (RUS) and was beaten 15-8.  The Russian went on to make the quarterfinal.

Anqi Xu (CHN) beat Mara Navarria (ITA) 11-10 to win the gold medal with Violetta Kolobova (RUS) and Yana Shemyakina (RUS) taking the bronze medals.

Great Britain was not one of the twenty-four teams to compete on Sunday as Sweden took a surprise victory over Italy 45-37 in the gold medal match.  Romania beat Russia 33-32 in a tense bronze medal match.

GB Individual Placing:  C. Lawrence 47^th, Cohen 177^th, Bottoms 192^nd, Matthews 206^th, Smith 219^th & H. Lawrence 224^th.

Click here for full individual results.

Click here for full team results.

The 2014/15 senior season continues this weekend with sabre World Cup events in Padua and Athens.