FENCING: Olympic Qualification Continues at Senior World Championships, July 13-19

Twenty-seven U.S. fencers will compete for World titles and Olympic qualification points at Senior World Championships in Moscow from July 13-19.

Competition will be held at the Olympic Stadium – an arena originally built for the 1980 Olympic Games that seats 35,000 fans – and will include more than 900 athletes from 108 nations.

The American contingent includes 12 athletes who have won medals at previous Senior World Championships or the Olympic Games:

· Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore. / Saber), two-time Olympic Champion and five-time Senior World Champion

· Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J. / Saber), 2014 Senior World Team Champion

· Ibtihaj Muhammad (Maplewood, N.J. / Saber), 2014 Senior World Team Champion

· Eliza Stone (Chicago, Ill. / Saber), 2014 Senior World Team Champion

· Ben Bratton (New York City, N.Y. / Epee), 2012 Senior World Team Champion

· Courtney Hurley (San Antonio, Texas / Epee), 2012 Olympic team bronze medalist

· Kelley Hurley (San Antonio, Texas / Epee), 2012 Olympic team bronze medalist

· Miles Chamley-Watson (New York City, N.Y. / Foil), 2013 Senior World Individual Champion and 2013 Senior World team silver medalist

· Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif. / Foil), 2013 Senior World team silver medalist and 2010 Senior World individual bronze medalist

· Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Foil), 2013 Senior World team silver medalist and current World No. 1

· Alex Massialas (San Francisco, Calif. / Foil), 2013 Senior World team silver medalist

· Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky. / Foil), 2011 Senior World bronze medalist

In addition to having numerous athletes in contention for individual medals, all six U.S. teams earned podium finishes on the 2014-15 circuit with three teams ranked in the top five, including the World No. 1 U.S. Women’s Saber Team. The reigning Senior World Champions have medaled at every tournament this season, including a gold at the 2014 Isla de Margarita World Cup.

The U.S. Women’s Foil Team comes into the Worlds at a historic No. 3 after an upset of Italy – the reigning World and Olympic Champions – at the Gdansk World Cup where Team USA took the silver.

Formerly No. 1 in the world, the U.S Men’s Foil Team is now ranked fifth in a deep field after a gold medal win in Paris and a bronze in Bonn.

With Olympic qualifying points on the line, the Senior Worlds is the fourth qualifying tournament for the Rio Games with more points available than any other tournament in the season.

Competition begins with the individual preliminary rounds which start with men’s and women’s saber on July 13. All athletes currently ranked in the top 16 in the world are exempt from pools and will advance directly into the table of 64. Following the individual medal events, the team competitions will be held from July 16-19.

The competition schedule is as follows:

Monday, July 13

Men’s and Women’s Individual Saber Preliminaries

Tuesday, July 14

Men’s and Women’s Individual Saber T64 – Finals

Men’s and Women’s Individual Epee Preliminaries

Wednesday, July 15

Men’s and Women’s Individual Epee T64 – Finals

Men’s and Women’s Individual Foil Preliminaries

Thursday, July 16

Men’s and Women’s Individual Foil T64 – Finals

Men’s and Women’s Team Saber Tables Through T16

Friday, July 17

Men’s and Women’s Team Saber Quarter-finals – Finals

Men’s and Women’s Team Epee Tables Through T16

Saturday, July 18

Men’s and Women’s Team Epee Quarter-finals – Finals

Men’s and Women’s Team Foil Tables Through T16

Sunday, July 19

Men’s and Women’s Team Foil Quarter-finals – Finals

The complete athlete roster is as follows, including Name, Hometown, State and Current World Rank:

Men’s Epee

Jason Pryor (Colorado Springs, Colo. / No. 60)

Ben Bratton (New York City, N.Y. / No. 64)

Yeisser Ramirez (Brooklyn, N.Y. / No. 73)

Individual Event Only: Ari Simmons (Houston, Texas / No. 76)

Team Event Only: Jimmy Moody (Colorado Springs, Colo. / No. 199)

Women’s Epee

Kelley Hurley (San Antonio, Texas / No. 14)

Katharine Holmes (Washington, D.C. / No. 20)

Courtney Hurley (San Antonio, Texas / No. 27)

Individual Event Only: Katarzyna Trzopek (Pacifica, Calif. / No. 142)

Team Event Only: Anna Van Brummen (Houston, Texas / No. 116)

Men’s Foil

Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y. / No. 1)

Alex Massialas (San Francisco, Calif. / No. 6)

Miles Chamley-Watson (New York City, N.Y. / No. 12)

Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif. / No. 14)

Women’s Foil

Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky. / No. 3)

Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y. / No. 15)

Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y. / No. 16)

Individual Event Only Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif. / No. 33)

Team Event Only: Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn. / No. 53)

Men’s Saber

Eli Dershwitz (Sherborn, Mass. / No. 18)

Daryl Homer (Bronx, N.Y. / No. 10)

Peter Souders (Silver Spring, Md. / No. 74)

Jeff Spear (Wynantskill, N.Y. / No. 29)

Women’s Saber

Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore. / No. 3)

Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J. / No. 5)

Ibtihaj Muhammad (Maplewood, N.J. / No. 16)

Eliza Stone (Chicago, Ill. / No. 18)

For more information, contact Nicole Jomantas, USA Fencing Communications Manager, at 719.761.7909 (cell) or N.Jomantas@usfencing.org.

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