FENCING: Bronzes for Massialas and Kiefer and U.S. wins men’s Team Foil in Cairo

U.S. olympic Foil medalist Alexander Massialas (Photo: Marie-Lan Nguyen via Wikimedia Commons)

The U.S. had a strong showing in the Pharoah’s Challenge tournament in Cairo (EGY) and came away with three medals, including a team gold.

Rio Olympic silver medalist Alexander Massialas won his 10th career World Cup medal and first in a year with a bronze in the men’s Foil, falling to eventual silver winner Erwann Le Pechoux of France in the semifinals. Italy’s Daniele Garozzo, the 2016 Olympic gold medalist, won his second career World Cup title.

The U.S. also had Gerek Meinhardt and Nick Itkin advance into the quarterfinals and world no. 1 Race Imboden finished ninth, so the Americans figured to do well in the team event. That quartet swept aside Brazil (45-23), Hong Kong (45-36), then Korea by just 45-43 in the semis and France by 45-34 in the final for the gold medal.

Although he lost in the Round of 16, Imboden retained his world no. 1 ranking.

In the women’s Foil, Olympic and World Champion Inna Deriglazova (RUS) won her third World Cup event of the season and 23rd in her career, defeating Italy’s Alice Volpi in the final, 15-7. Volpi got past American Lee Kiefer in the semis by 15-13 and so Kiefer had to settle for her 11th career World Cup medal and second bronze of the season.

Volpi got a measure of satisfaction in the team event as the Italians took the title with a 38-37 win over Russia. Summaries:

FIE World Cup
Cairo (EGY) ~ 1-3 March 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s Foil: 1. Daniele Garozzo (ITA); 2. Erwann Le Pechoux (FRA); 3. Giorgio Avola (ITA) and Alexander Massialas (USA). Semis: Le Pechoux d. Massialas, 15-10; Garozzo d. Avola, 15-10. Final: Garozzo d. Le Pechoux, 15-13.

Men’s Team Foil: 1. United States (Imboden, Itkin, Masialas, Meinhardt); 2. France; 3. Italy; 4. Korea. Semis: U.S. d. Korea, 45-43; France d. Italy, 45-41. Third: Italy d. Korea, 45-35. Final: U.S. d, France, 45-34.

Women’s Foil: 1. Inna Deriglazova (RUS); 2. Alice Volpi (ITA); 3. Lee Kiefer (USA) and Sumire Tsuji (JPN). Semis: Deriglazova d. Tsuji, 15-10; Volpi d. Kiefer, 15-13. Final: Deriglazova d. Volpi, 15-7.

Women’s Team Foil: 1. Italy (Batini, Di Francisca, Mancini, Volpi); 2. Russia; 3. France; 4. United States (Jacqueline Dubrovich, Lee Kiefer, Margaret Lu, Nicole Ross). Semis: Russia d. France, 45-31; Italy d. U.S., 44-43. Third: France d. U.S., 45-39. Final: Italy d. Russia, 38-37.