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ON THE WORLD STAGE

from American Fencing magazine: October 2022

by USA Fencing

from American Fencing magazine: October 2022, page 6

Article from: American Fencing magazine: October 2022

EDITOR’S NOTE

TEXT BY BRYAN WENDELL | PHOTOS BY #BIZZITEAM

TEAM USA concluded the 2022 Fencing World Championships

with four medals (two silver, two bronze), which a amounted to its best performance at the event since 2018.

OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST LEE KIEFER WINNING A BRONZE IN WOMEN’S FOIL IN CAIRO.

FENCING FRANCE’S ENZO LEFORT, WHO ULTIMATELY TOOK GOLD, NICK ITKIN WINS BRONZE IN MEN’S FOIL.

CAIRO — In 2018, the same year Nick Itkin (Los Angeles) won a Junior World Championship in men’s foil, Italy’s Alessio Foconi earned a Senior World title.

But on Day 6 of the 2022 Fencing World Championships in Egypt, those two men faced off — the 22-year-old Itkin vs. the 32-year-old Foconi. And Itkin didn’t look a bit overwhelmed by the globe’s fourth-ranked fencer.

Itkin soundly defeated Foconi in the quarterfinals, 15-5, to secure a spot in the semifinals and guarantee a medal for Team USA. In the semifinals, Itkin battled hard against France’s Enzo Lefort but ultimately lost on a 14-14 touch that was so close it required the referee to consult the video replay for about 15 seconds.

The bronze is Itkin’s first career medal at a Senior Worlds and comes a day after Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.) earned bronze in the women’s foil individual event. These two medals were part of a four-medal showing for Team USA — its best performance at a Senior Worlds since 2018.

A PAIR OF SILVERS IN THE TEAM EVENTS

With two individual bronzes already secured, attention turned to the team events, where squads representing their home countries square off across nine rounds of high-energy excitement.

In women’s foil, Team USA’s squad featured two talented Olympians and two exciting newcomers entering as underdogs against a French team that won silver in this event at the Tokyo Olympics just a year earlier.

And if that wasn’t daunting enough, the team’s star was Ysaora Thibus, who had won the individual world title just three days prior.

While the matchup might have favored the French on paper, Team USA came to fence with determination.

Thanks to strong performances by the quartet of Kiefer, Jackie Dubrovich (Maplewood, N.J.), Maia Weintraub (Philadel-

In the finals, Team USA’s bid for a second consecutive upset fell short in a 45-27 defeat to top-seeded Italy, securing a silver medal.

On the tournament’s final day, it was time for the men’s foil team to step-up. And they did exactly that, ending the tournament on an exclamation point with a silver medal.

The feat is made even more spectacular by what it took to even get to the finals.

In the semifinals against France, which entered the tournament as the world’s second-ranked men’s foil team, the Americans got off to a slow start. After four of the nine rounds were complete, Team USA trailed 20-14, and momentum seemed squarely with the French.

That’s when Chase Emmer (Morristown, N.J.) took his turn in the fifth round.

Staring him down behind the tricolor mask of France was Lefort, who just three days earlier had won a World Championship in men’s foil.

Lefort is 30, and Emmer is 18.

But this time, Emmer got the better of the three-time Olympian, outscoring Lefort 9-5.

That big number cut France’s lead to 25-23. After Massialas and France’s Pierre Loisel each scored five touches, Emmer returned to the strip again.

This time, the matchup was against Maximilien Chastanet, who won the 2016 NCAA championship with Ohio State. Again, Emmer — who will attend Notre Dame this fall — outscored his more experienced opponent. The 7-4 round for Emmer gave the Americans a 35-34 lead after seven rounds.

The eighth round went to Notre Dame graduate Itkin, 5-4, extending Team USA’s lead to 40-38 entering the final round.

France had chosen Lefort for its anchor leg, with Team USA sending Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.) to the strip.

In the race to 45, Massialas didn’t need to win the round. He just needed to score five points before Lefort could score seven.

TOP: NICK ITKIN FIGHTS FOR THE GOLD IN THE FINALS OF MEN’S TEAM FOIL AGAINST ITALY. SECOND: TEAM USA MEN’S FOIL MEDALISTS WITH TEAMMATES AND USA FENCING STAFF AND COACHES. THIRD: HONOR JOHNSON AND TEAM USA WINNING THEIR WAY INTO THE QUARTERFINALS OF WOMEN’S TEAM SABER AGAINST CANADA. FOURTH: TEAM USA WOMEN’S SABER CADRE.

SILVER FOR MEN’S TEAM FOIL! SHOWN HERE: CHASE EMMER AND ALEXANDER MASSIALAS

After an exciting stretch of back-and-forth fencing, Lefort established a 44-43 lead. France needed just one more touch to send Team USA to the bronze medal match.

Massialas tied it at 44. Then, with Team USA fans holding their collective breath, Massialas bent low and leaned to his right to score a touch that evaded Lefort’s defenses. The green light went on, the touch was confirmed by video review, and Team USA erupted with excitement — knowing that another medal was confirmed.

In the gold medal match against top-ranked Italy, Team USA’s bid for another upset fell short in the 45-39 loss. It was an identical scenario to the one from 24 hours earlier, when the Team USA women’s foil team upset France in the semifinals and lost to Italy in the finals.

It must be pointed out that this was quite a tournament for Team USA’s foil teams, led by Men’s Foil National Coach Greg Massialas and Women’s Foil National Coach Ralf Bissdorf. Team USA medaled in all four foil events in Cairo.