Sun Nov 26 2023 FIE 2023 Congress Recognizes U.S. Fencers for 2022-23 Success, Announces Sites for 2025 and 2026 World Championships

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Four U.S. fencers and four U.S. teams were honored for their 2022-23 season successes this weekend at the 2023 FIE (International Fencing Federation) Congress in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. 

At the Congress, 107 national federations gathered in person while 29 more nations were represented. The group voted on a number of proposals, including awarding the locations of the 2025 and 2026 World Championships. 

The Congress is also an annual occasion to honor those individuals and teams who finished the previous season atop the FIE’s rankings.

For Team USA, Lee Kiefer OLY (Senior Women’s Foil), Alexander Massialas OLY (Senior Men’s Foil), Hadley Husisian (Junior Women’s Epee) and Colin Heathcock (Junior Men’s Saber) were honored for finishing the 2022-23 season ranked first in their respective weapon and age classification. 

In a sign of Team USA’s promising future in foil, our Junior Women’s Foil and Junior Men’s Foil teams were honored for their first-place finishes in 2022-23.

And in the “Grand Prix of the Nations,” which honors the countries with the combined best rankings across all weapons in a single age classification, Team USA was the only country to win in two different age groups: Juniors and Veterans.

Representatives from the USA included, above from left:

• Donald Alperstein, Member of the FIE Disciplinary Panel Council
• Jennifer Yamin, Member of the FIE Fair-Play Council
• Ivan Lee OLY, Chair of the USA Fencing Board of Directors
• Rita Comes, Member of the FIE Veterans Council
• Donald Anthony, Member of the FIE Executive Committee
• Jeremy Summers, President of Medical Commission

• 2025 Junior and Cadet Fencing World Championships: Wuxi, China  
• 2025 Senior Fencing World Championships: Tbilisi, Georgia 
• 2026 Junior and Cadet Fencing World Championships: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 
• 2026 Senior Fencing World Championships: Hong Kong, China 

Individual Juniors

• Men’s Epee: Mohamed Elsayed (EGY)
• Women’s Epee: Hadley Husisian (USA)
• Men’s Foil: Damiano Di Veroli (ITA)
• Women’s Foil: Aurora Grandis (ITA)
• Men’s Saber: Colin Heathcock (USA)
• Women’s Saber: Nisanur Erbil (TÜR)

Junior Teams 

• Men’s Epee: Egypt
• Women’s Epee: Poland
• Men’s Foil: USA
• Women’s Foil: USA
• Men’s Saber: Uzbekistan
• Women’s Saber: Hungary

Individual Seniors

• Men’s Epee: Davide Di Veroli (ITA)
• Women’s Epee: Marie-Florence Candassamy (FRA)
• Men’s Foil: Alexander Massialas (USA)
• Women’s Foil: Lee Kiefer (USA)
• Men’s Saber: Sandro Bazadze (GEO)
• Women’s Saber: Sara Balzer (FRA)

Senior Teams

• Men’s Epee: France
• Women’s Epee: Korea
• Men’s Foil: Japan
• Women’s Foil: Italy
• Men’s Saber: Korea
• Women’s Saber: France

Grand Prix of the Nations

• Cadet: Hungary
• Junior: USA
• Senior: Italy
• Veteran: USA