COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — USA Fencing announced today that our health and safety protocols, which are designed to protect athletes, coaches, referees and spectators, will remain mostly unchanged for the 2022 USA Fencing National Championships and July Challenge, also known as Summer Nationals.
One exception applies to fencers during live competition. As we announced in May, fencers are no longer required to wear a face mask under their fencing mask during bouts in which they are competing.
This change also resulted in a change to the rest period during direct elimination bouts. That break had been extended to 90 seconds to give athletes additional rest time but has now been returned to 60 seconds.
Summer Nationals will take place July 2–11, 2022, at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
Protocols in place for Minneapolis include:
While our fencing competitions have returned in full force, the pandemic is not yet over. All of us at USA Fencing thank you for your diligent effort to keep our fencers safe, healthy and competition-ready.
Individuals who have completed a COVID vaccine series (Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Novavak, Sinovac, Sinopharm, Covaxin, or CoronaVac) 14 days prior to arrival at the venue will NOT need to obtain a negative PCR test result.
All attendees of the tournament, ages 12 and older, who are not vaccinated must submit a religious or medical exemption request to the National Office for review. If an individual has been approved for a medical or religious exemption, he or she must provide their approval email received from the National Office, as well as a negative COVID-19 PCR test result. This includes athletes and staff, as well as all coaches and spectators. PCR test results must be from within 72 hours prior to arrival at the venue. Proof of your negative COVID-19 test result and exemption must be presented to a USA Fencing staff member at registration for verification.
If an individual tests positive for COVID-19 within 10 days prior to the competition, they should not attend the tournament and should notify USA Fencing at withdrawals@usafencing.org.
Tag(s): Updates 2022 Summer Nationals