FENCING Preview: Largest tournament in the world – the U.S. National Championships – getting started in Columbus

World 2013 Foil Champion Miles Chamley-Watson of the U.S. (Photo: Marie-Lan Nguyen via Wikimedia Commons)

USA Fencing can rightly be proud that more than 5,400 fencers from 48 states and 20 foreign nations are gathering in Columbus, Ohio for competitions in 94 divisions for fencers from age seven to 85.

The elite American fencers are mostly at the Pan American Championships in Toronto (CAN), but there are some notable entries in Columbus. They start with 2013 World Foil Champion Miles Chamley-Watson, 2016 Epee Olympian and 2015 National Champion Jason Pryor and Chloe Fox-Gitomer, ranked 25th in the world in women’s Sabre by the FIE.

The top seeds in each senior division:

Men/Epee: Division I ~ 28 June
1. Alen Hadzic
2. Justin Yoo
3. Dylan Nollner
+ Ben Bratton (4) ~ 2017 National Champion
+ Dennis Kraft (16) ~ 2018 National Champion
+ Jack Bradford (54) ~ 2016 National Champion

Men/Foil: Division I ~ 2 July
1. Miles Chamley-Watson ~ 2013 World Champion
2. Adam Mathieu ~ 2019 National Champion (April)
3. Sidarth Kumbla ~ 2018 World Junior bronze medalist
+ Sam Moelis (5) ~ 2015 National Champion

Men/Sabre: Division I ~ 30 June
1. Kamar Skeete
2. Peter Souders
3. Andrew Mackiewicz ~ 2018 Pan American bronze medalist
+ Mitchell Saron (5) ~ 2019 National Champion (April)

Women/Epee: Division I ~ 30 June
1. Isis Washington ~ 2019 National Champion (April)
2. Emily Vermeule ~ 2018 World Cadet Championships silver medalist
3. Greta Candreva

Women/Foil: Division I ~ 28 June
1. Nicole Pustilnik
2. Maia Weintraub ~ 2019 National Champion (April)
3. May Tieu ~ 2018 World Cadet Championships silver medalist

Women/Sabre: Division I ~ 1 July
1. Chloe Fox-Gitomer ~ 2018 Pan American bronze medalist
2. Nora Burke
3. Elizabeth Tartakovsky

Look for results here.