A Look at Team USA: Going for the Gold in Long Beach

The first foil Grand Prix to be held in the United States in more than a decade will take place in Long Beach this weekend as more than 40 men and women fence for Team USA, taking on more than 200 athletes from around the world, including Olympic and World Champions.

Team USA includes seven members of the last two Olympic Teams, including World No. 1 Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.) and his teammates on the squad that won bronze in Rio: Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.), Race Imboden (Los Angeles, Calif. / Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Miles Chamley-Watson (New York City, N.Y.)

The American women are led by a strong trio of Olympians. Two-time Olympian Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.) and her London teammate Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.) are ranked No. 2 and No. 5, respectively, while 2015 Senior World medalist Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.) will be competing in her first event since Rio.

Competition will be held on Friday and Saturday at the Long Beach Convention Center with the schedule as follows:

Friday, March 17

9 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Men's Pools and Preliminary Rounds

2 p.m. - 6 p.m.

Women's Pools and Preliminary Rounds

Saturday, March 18

8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Men's Table of 64 - 8

10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Women's Table of 64 - 8

5:30 - 9 p.m.

Men's and Women's Semis and Finals

Tickets are available online at http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001K9cMDS1kZcQs6KDatcdjIHGiQCGoDe4zP9eKFFbH0gmXyhQ2VYSzIsmWOyrbHudgSRuOqiMyLlLAw04bmymT-VsD3QvRl1xN9T7QUlHYi_Z_6UFJo_kt097AKryxIqpCKOt73T44gSmDDeRbxRn9bLvdM5cY1GBi0EkIScLLo-o8YUY_zZdD1WYrUsvsJSbaqar4Dy6XfDw=&c=20iwpmiAEOxjXQ92WukwT0ts1eQD-oXpXfk1sgECGfN1fFxB6gG7Rg==&ch=gOaQFK6SQC_OJShZLz1Xc5lqshNdGFCbujVTZR6lmXdfmZOYNzCW-g== or at the door.

The following is a look at the men and women of Team USA, from Olympic stars to hopefuls for the 2020 and 2024 Games:

Men's Foil

As a team, the U.S. Men's Foil program has been on the rise since the squad's fourth place finish in London, winning silver at the 2013 Senior Worlds and bronze at the Rio Olympic Games.

Individually, the top four men in the United States have each won international golds and could threaten any fencer in the world for a chance at the title in Long Beach. With the 2016-17 season five tournaments underway, a U.S. fencer has medaled in all five, winning gold or silver in the first four.

Alexander Massialas followed his silver medal finish at the 2015 Senior Worlds with an individual silver medal in Rio to end the 2015-16 season as the No. 1 men's foil fencer in the world. He then got the new season off to a strong start with a silver medal at the last Grand Prix in Torino and gold at his last international event at the Paris World Cup in January.

Ranked No. 1 in the world in 2015, Imboden has continued his climb up the rankings this season with a gold medal win at the Cairo World Cup in October and a bronze at the Bonn World Cup last month. Now ranked No. 7 in the world, Imboden holds four Grand Prix bronze medals, but is aiming for a gold in Long Beach less than a year after relocating to Los Angeles to train.

Chamley-Watson, a 2013 Senior World Champion, picked up his first individual career World Cup title in November in Tokyo and also earned top-eight results in Cairo and Bonn to bolster his No. 11 world ranking.

Meinhardt just missed the podium in Rio with a top eight result. The two-time

Senior World medalist placed sixth in Paris this season and is hoping to add to his collection of three Grand Prix medals.

While the top four U.S. men have held a tight grip on their rankings since 2011, a group of young up-and-comers are not only fencing at the Grand Prix, but could upset the world's top names.

Last month, Nick Itkin (Los Angeles, Calif.) earned a top-16 result at the Bonn World Cup as a 17-year-old. Itkin, who will fence at the Junior Worlds in Plovdiv, Bulgaria in August, upset 2016 Olympic Champion Daniele Garozzo (ITA) in the first round in Bonn just weeks after defeating Imboden in the finals of the January North American Cup.

All three of Itkin's teammates on the 2017 Junior World Team will be fencing in Long Beach. Sam Moelis (Hewlett, N.Y.) and Geoffrey Tourette (Cupertino, Calif.) are both former Cadet World Champions with Tourette holding the No. 3 junior world ranking after two gold medal finishes on the U20 circuit this season. Sidarth Kumbla (San Jose, Calif.) won two international medals this season with a pair of bronzes at the 2017 London Junior World Cup and the Junior Pan Ams.

Former Junior World Team Champions Brian Kaneshige (Maplewood, N.J.) and Jerry Chang (Mountain View, Calif.) also will be ones to watch for Team USA in Long Beach as both have earned top 32 results on the senior circuit this season.

Women's Foil

Team USA's depth on the women's side has continued to expand as three members of Team USA have won multiple individual medals on the senior circuit.

Two-time Olympian Lee Kiefer had the best World Cup season of her career last year, winning four medals on the circuit, including a pair of silvers at the Grand Prix events in Cuba and Shanghai. This year, Kiefer has risen to the No. 2 world ranking after claiming her first Grand Prix title in Torino and winning bronze last month at the Gdansk World Cup.

Nicole Ross narrowly missed qualifying for her second Olympic Team in 2016, but has gone full force this year, winning medals at the first three tournaments of the season, including silver at the Torino Grand Prix, giving Team USA its first ever 1-2 finish at a Grand Prix event for women's foil.

Nzingha Prescod made history as the first U.S. women's foil fencer ever to win a Grand Prix title in 2013 and her 2015 Senior World medal made her the first African-American woman to reach the individual podium at a Senior Worlds. The two-time Olympian battled injuries in 2016 and hasn't competed since Rio, but will be making her return to the international circuit in Long Beach where she hopes to earn enough points to secure a position on her eighth Senior World Team at just 24 years old.

The younger sister of Alexander, Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.) has become an up-and-coming star in women's foil fencing with Junior World and Youth Olympic titles to her name. The reigning Junior World Champion has competed on three Senior World Championship teams, placing in the top 16 at the 2015 Worlds. Fencing runs in the family blood at both Alex and Sabrina will be coached by three-time Olympian Greg Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)

Three-time Senior World Team member Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn.) has always fenced well in events held in the Americas. The five-time National Champion earned top-16 results at the Cancun World Cup in both 2015 and 2016.

Lu's former Junior World teammate, Jackie Dubrovich (Riverdale, N.J.), also placed in the top 16 in Cancun and the three-time Junior World team medalist will be competing in her first international event on U.S. soil in Long Beach.

One of a handful of athletes from Southern California to be competing close to home, Madison Zeiss (Culver City, Calif.) has represented Team USA at the World University Games and is looking for a strong result in front of family and friends.

With the 2017 Junior Worlds just over two weeks away in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, the Grand Prix will mark one final competition opportunity for Team USA's junior women. In addition to Sabrina Massialas, two-time Junior World team medalist Iman Blow (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and 2016 Cadet World Champion Sylvie Binder (Armonk, N.Y.) will each be fencing in Long Beach. Although Blow and Binder are juniors, they have done well on the senior circuit with Blow earning a top-16 result at the Cancun World Cup in October and Binder placing in the top 32.

A complete list of U.S. entrants in the Absolute Fencing Gear® FIE Grand Prix Long Beach is as follows (Note: entrants are subject to change following the publication of pools):

U.S. Men's Foil Team

Kenji Bravo (San Francisco, Calif.)

Miles Chamley-Watson (New York City, N.Y.)

Jason Chang (Mountain View, Calif.)

Jerry Chang (Mountain View, Calif.)

Race Imboden (Los Angeles, Calif. / Brooklyn, N.Y.)

Nick Itkin (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Brian Kaneshige (Maplewood, N.J.)

Sidarth Kumbla (San Jose, Calif.)

Zohaib Mannan (Short Hills, N.J.)

Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)

Adam Mathieu (Union City, N.J.)

Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.)

Gregory Mitberg (Concord, Mass.)

Sam Moelis (Hewlett, N.Y.)

Duncan Rheingans-Yoo (Cambridge, Mass.)

Philip Shin (New York City, N.Y.)

Geoffrey Tourette (Cupertino, Calif.)

Andrew Zheng (Jericho, N.Y.)

U.S. Women's Foil Team

Sylvie Binder (Armonk, N.Y.)

Iman Blow (Brooklyn, N.Y.)

Quinn Crum (Providence, R.I.)

Stefani Deschner (Mechanicsville, Va.)

Delphine DeVore (Westport, Conn.)

Jackie Dubrovich (Riverdale, N.J.)

Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.)

Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn.)

Sara Martos (El Cerrito, Calif.)

Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)

Natalie Minarik (Glen Oaks, Calif.)

Adrienne Nott (Philadelphia, Pa.)

Morgan Partridge (Swansea, Mass.)

Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.)

Sara Taffel (New York City, N.Y.)

May Tieu (Belle Mead, N.Y.)

Madison Zeiss (Culver City, Calif.)

Rachel Zhang (San Jose, Calif.)

Isabella Zuzulo (Newtown, Pa.)

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