31/01/2025- GBR
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WILLIS & MCLELLAN APPOINTED BY EFC FOR 2025 U17 & U20 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

BF’s Competition Manager, Jon Willis, has been appointed by the European Fencing Confederation (EFC) as President of DT for the 2025 Cadet and Junior European Championships, joined by Sam McLellan who has been selected as a referee.

The EFC has appointed Jon Willis onto the Directoire Technique (DT) for this year’s Cadet and Junior European Championships, which will be held in Antalya, Turkey, between the 27th February and 2nd March.

This is the second time that Jon has been President of DT, having also been in the role at last year’s Cadet and Junior European Championships. His previous DT appointments include the 2019 and 2023 U23 European Championships, the 2020 Cadet & Junior Championships, the 2022 Senior European Championships and the 2023 European Games, as well as the 2024 Cardiff Wheelchair Fencing World Cup.

Jon said, “I’m really happy to be selected as the President of DT for another major Championships and I am looking forward to helping deliver a fantastic Championship for all the athletes, coaches and referees. I am also super happy to have Sam McLellan on the team for his first Championships as well as our associate pathway referees Sarah Steacy (IRL) and Kat Solodkiha (LAT), who many British fencers will know from the UK domestic circuit. It really shows the strength in UK refereeing that BF has built.”

Sam McLellan has been appointed to referee at the event for the first time, having passed his FIE sabre refereeing exam in 2022. At the end of last year, Sam was also selected for the EFC Master List alongside five other GBR referees – the highest number of GBR referees to be included since the list began. He was also selected for the recent Senior Sabre World Cup in Plovdiv for the first time, where he officiated in the finals of the Men’s Individual and Women’s Team competitions.

Sam added, “I am delighted to have been selected by the EFC to referee at the Cadet and Junior European Championships — being part of the EFC team for the event is a responsibility which it is a pleasure to share with Jon as DT President.”

“It is a privilege, and source of great excitement as a British referee to be selected to officiate at a major championships. This selection is a result of the collective effort and energies from all those involved in our national referee programme including the BF staff, who I would like to thank for their support. I am keen to get started and officiate some great fencing!”

Sam is part of the BF Referee Pathway Programme, which is supported by funding from UK Sport.

Georgina Usher, CEO British Fencing, said, “It has been a number of years since we last had a British sabre referee selected for a European Championships, which is testament to a lot of hard work from Sam and those referees who have supported his journey as part of the Referee Pathway Programme. For Jon, this appointment is further evidence of his growing reputation as a world class competition organiser. Congratulations and good luck to both of them.”

 


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