USA Fencing

MILAN, Italy — A 6-0 performance in pools means two things: a job well done and more work to do.

Women’s Foil fencer Maia Weintraub (Fencers Club, Fencing Academy of Philadelphia, Princeton University) won every bout in her seven-woman pool on Day 2 of the 2023 Fencing World Championships in Italy.

That undefeated record meant she skipped the preliminary direct-elimination rounds and got to end her day early. She’ll next fence on Wednesday as part of the main table of 64 — one of five members of Team USA who earned a spot in Wednesday’s draw.

“Going into the pools, I was feeling good,” she says. “I took a lesson, fenced a little bit. My main goal was to try and fence my best in every bout, and it worked.”

Weintraub will spend her first day off training, doing video analysis and perhaps even sightseeing around Milan. On Tuesday, she plans to take it easy.

“The day before the tournament, I usually don’t like to do any sort of fencing,” she says. “I try and take my mind off of it as best as I can and just sort of relax.”

Weintraub will join all three of her Women’s Foil teammates in the main table, including

Lee Kiefer OLY (Bluegrass Fencers' Club) and Jackie Dubrovich OLY (New Jersey Fencing Alliance) — both of whom bypassed the pools entirely because of their world ranking.

Meanwhile, Lauren Scruggs (Peter Westbrook Foundation, Harvard University) looked strong in the Senior Worlds debut with a pool record of 5-1 and an indicator (touches scored minus touches received) of +16.

Scruggs lost her first pool bout, 5-2, but didn’t let that faze her, winning her remaining bouts by a combined score of 25-6.

“I was pretty nervous coming into the tournament — my first Senior Worlds — so I dropped by first one,” she says. “And then I kind of shook it off, because I knew I had to win. I just got myself together, shook it off, and did well on the other bouts.”

Scruggs said she didn’t put pressure on herself to win each subsequent bout by a certain score. She just focused on her plan and dominated — surpassing her original goal entering the pool round.

“Every time I go in, I’m always trying to win at least three of my pool bouts,” she says. “I think with the way I fence, it’s either I win them 5-0 or 5-1 or I lose them close.”

Of the fencers with 5-1 records in pools, Scruggs had the third-best indicator (+16). That placed her 14th overall out of pools and meant she, like Weintraub, was able to put away her foil for the rest of the day.

In Men’s Epee — the tournament’s largest event — all four fencers were making their Senior Worlds debuts. And all four members of Team USA advanced from pools into the direct-elimination rounds.

The event’s highlight was Tristan Szapary (Fencers Club, Princeton University, Fencing Academy of Philadelphia) who won both of his preliminary direct-elimination bouts to secure a spot in Wednesday’s table of 64.

“I knew that nerves would definitely be my biggest opponent out here,” he says. “This is the highest level of our sport, and now that I’m here, I took a lot of time the past few days focusing on my breath and calming myself down.”

In his preliminary round of 64 bout to earn a spot in the next round, Szapary was fencing his Spanish opponent close — up by only a single touch — until he and his coach Alexey Cheremsky devised a new plan during the minute break.

“We realized that it’s probably best if we made an adjustment — one that we weren’t expecting, but immediately that’s sort of when I started racking up the points because I think he wasn't ready for the change,” Szapary says. “It’s important to be confident and commit to your plan that you have going in, but it’s also really important to be flexible — to have a coach who can see the change, and you implement the change.”

The five fencers who advanced from Sunday will be back in action Wednesday.

Up next: Monday offers the final day of preliminary rounds at Senior Worlds as we cheer on Team USA Women’s Saber fencers Maia Chamberlain and Tatiana Nazlymov. The other two Women’s Saber fencers (Elizabeth Tartakovsky and Magda Skarbonkiewicz) — plus all four members of the Men’s Foil team — have byes directly to Thursday’s main table.

Women’s Foil

Lee Kiefer OLY:

• Exempt from pools and moves straight to Wednesday’s table of 64

Jackie Dubrovich OLY:

• Exempt from pools and moves straight to Wednesday’s table of 64

Lauren Scruggs:

• Pools: 5-1 (+16 indicator)
• Based on pools result (14th best), advanced directly to Wednesday’s table of 64

Maia Weintraub:

• Pools: 6-0 (+22 indicator)
• Based on pools result (third best), advanced directly to Wednesday’s table of 64

Men’s Epee

Dylan Nollner:

• Pools: 4-1 (+5 indicator)
• Preliminary Round of 256: Bye
• Preliminary Round of 128: Lost to William East (Great Britain), 15-11

Stephen Ewart:

• Pools: 2-3 (+3 indicator)
• Preliminary Round of 256: Lost to Samuel Gallagher Pelletier (Canada), 15-9

Tristan Szapary:

• Pools: 5-1 (+6 indicator)
• Preliminary Round of 256: Bye
• Preliminary Round of 128: Defeated Al Harith Al Harthi (Oman), 15-9

• Preliminary Round of 64: Defeated Alvaro Ibanez (Spain), 15-10

Samuel Imrek:

• Pools: 4-1 (+12 indicator)
• Preliminary Round of 256: Bye
• Preliminary Round of 128: Lost to Bron Sheum (Singapore), 15-12

Find the album here.