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Team USA Shines With Golds in Paris and Tunis as Road to 2024 Olympics Continues

01/14/2024, 2:45pm CST
By Bryan Wendell

The spotlight shone brightly on Colin Heathcock, who clinched his first senior medal — a gold in Men's Saber. In Paris, our Men's Foil team also grabbed gold, boosting their ranking for the Paris Games.

In a weekend of fencing sure to boost the hopes of fans across the country, Team USA emerged with a pair of golds.

Young prodigy Colin Heathcock clinched a groundbreaking gold in Men's Saber at the Tunis Grand Prix, while our Men's Foil team captured an inspiring gold at the FIE Foil World Cup in Paris. These victories signal some strong momentum for American fencers on the road to the Paris Olympics.

Congratulations to all the athletes, coaches and support staff for their exceptional achievements this weekend, as they continue to elevate the prestige of USA Fencing on the global stage.

Tunis Grand Prix

At the Grand Prix in Tunis, Colin Heathcock, an 18-year-old sensation from the Christian Bauer Academy and Manhattan Fencing Center, secured his first senior gold — and his first senior medal of any color — in Men's Saber.

Heathcock, who won two junior gold medals at the 2023 Junior & Cadet Worlds, has put himself in a very strong position on the journey to the Paris Olympics.

His path to the podium included an impressive win over three-time Olympic champion Áron Szilágyi, a fencer who had earned his first Olympic gold when Heathcock was just 6.

Full Individual Results

Women’s Saber

9th: Elizabeth Tartakovsky

14th: Maia Chamberlain

18th: Magda Skarbonkiewicz

43rd: Siobhan Sullivan

45th: Lola Possick

51st: Nora Burke

72nd: Vera Kong

73rd: Zoe Kim

84th: Vivian Lu

89th: Maggie Shealy

100th: Chloe Fox-Gitomer

108th: Tatiana Nazlymov

Men’s Saber

Gold: Colin Heathcock

17th: Eli Dershwitz OLY

30th: Andrew Doddo

38th: Filip Dolegiewicz

46th: Cody Walter Ji

48th: Khalil Thompson OLY

52nd: Daryl Homer OLY

56th: Lev Ben Avram

72nd: Grant Williams

77th: Antonio Heathcock

79th: Andrew Mackiewicz OLY

106th: Mitchell Saron

Paris World Cup

Meanwhile, the Men’s Foil team of Miles Chamley-Watson OLY, Chase Emmer, Nick Itkin OLY and Alexander Massialas OLY, delivered a spectacular performance in Paris.

They clinched team gold, solidifying their chances of fielding a full squad for the individual and team events at the Paris Games. The top four countries overall, plus the top country in each zone, qualify a full team:  three individual fencers plus one "replacement" athlete who may be substituted into the team event.

Team USA's path to victory was highlighted by a nail-biting comeback against Italy in the semifinals. Down 41-44 in the semifinal, Massialas refused to quit, earning four touches in a row to help Team USA advance to the gold medal match against Japan.

Our Women’s Foil team, featuring Jackie Dubrovich OLY, Lee Kiefer OLY, Lauren Scruggs and Maia Weintraub, rebounded from a quarterfinal loss to Poland to win two matches in a row (China, Hungary), finishing 5th. Importantly on the road to Paris, the women had the best team finish of any country in our zone.

Full Individual Results

Women’s Foil

5th: Lee Kiefer OLY

14th: Lauren Scruggs

18th: Jacqueline Dubrovich OLY

23rd: Maia Weintraub

28th: Katerina Lung

34th: Zander Rhodes

42nd: Sara Taffel

47th: Jaelyn Liu

68th: Stefani Deschner

131st: Arianna Cao

136th: Sabrina Massialas OLY

143rd: Sabrina Cho

Men’s Foil

5th: Alexander Massialas OLY

6th: Gerek Meinhardt OLY

13th: Miles Chamley-Watson OLY

17th: Nick Itkin OLY

36th: Chase Emmer

46th: Sidarth Kumbla

99th: Bryce Louie

102nd: Andrew Chen

104th: Samarth Kumbla

122nd: James Bourtis

124th: Marcello Olivares

125th: Ethan Gassner

Tag(s): Updates