American Eli Dershwitz has held the worldwide no. 1 ranking in men’s Sabre for most of the last couple of seasons, due in part to his consistency. He doesn’t always win a medal – he has two World Cup medals so far this season – but he’s consistently good.
In fact, he’s finished fifth in each of the last five FIE World Cup or Grand Prix tournaments.
Even so, his no. 1 ranking cold be on the line this week in Moscow, as Korea’s Sang-Uk Oh is going for the third straight Grand Prix victory. In fact, he could end up facing the same man he defeated in both the Cairo and Seoul Grand Prix events: Hungary’s 2016 Olympic champ Aron Szilagyi.
It won’t be easy, as the Grand Prix in Moscow has attracted a large field of 177 men and 171 women, including the entire top-10 in the men’s and women’s world rankings:
● Men:
1. Eli Dershwitz (USA) ~ 2018 World Championships silver medalist
2. Sang-Uk Oh (KOR) ~ 2018 World Championships Team gold medalist
3. Max Hartung (GER)
4. Aron Szilagyi (HUN) ~ 2016 Olympic Champion
5. Luca Curatoli (ITA) ~ 2018 World Championships Team silver medalist
6. Bong-Il Gu (KOR) ~ 2017 World Championships silver medalist
7. Jung-Hwan Kim (KOR) ~ 2016 Olympic bronze; 2018 World Champion
8. Jun-Ho Kim (KOR) ~ 2018 World Championships bronze medalist
9. Kamil Ibragimov (RUS) ~ 2017-18 World Championships bronze medalist
10. Fares Ferjani (TUN)
● Women:
1. Sofya Velikaya (RUS) ~ 2016 Olympic silver; 2018 World Championships silver
2. Cecilia Berder (FRA) ~ 2017 World Championships bronze medalist
3. Ji-Yeon Kim (KOR) ~ 2012 Olympic Champion
4. Sofia Pozdniakova (RUS) ~ 2018 World Champion
5. Olga Kharlan (UKR) ~ 2016 Olympic bronze; 2017 World Champion
6. Anna Marton (HUN)
7. Anne-Elizabeth Stone (USA) ~ 2018 World Championships bronze medalist
8. Jiarui Qian (CHN)
9. Manon Brunet (FRA) ~ 2018 World Championships Team gold medalist
10. Lisa Pusztai (HUN)
In addition to the men’s top 10 fencers, American Daryl Homer – the 2016 Olympic silver medalist – is also entered at no. 11.
In the women’s Grand Prix events held so far, no. 1-ranked Velikaya won in Cairo over surprise finalist See-Yeon Choi (KOR); in Seoul, 2017 World Champion Kharlan (UKR) won over Korea’s Ji-Yeon Kim.
The finals for both men and women will be held on Sunday. Look for results here.
