USA Fencing

MILAN, Italy — In a dramatic, back-and-forth match during which Team USA trailed by as many as six points, the quartet of Eli Dershwitz OLY, Colin Heathcock, Andrew Doddo and Mitchell Saron defeated France, 45-44, to earn bronze medals on Friday, the seventh day of the 2023 Fencing World Championships in Italy.

The decisive touch, scored by Dershwitz and confirmed by not one but two video reviews, secured the first ever Senior Men’s Saber team medal for the United States.

“I’m proud of the boys around me. We’ve worked really hard all season,” Dershwitz says. “It’s really easy to win when everything’s going well. But for us to have a pretty tough loss in the semifinals against Korea, and then to be able to regroup as a team to come from behind against France and take the bronze? I think it just shows that we have a really resilient group and we’re ready to get ready for the Paris Olympics.

While our women’s saber team has won nine team medals at Senior Worlds, the men had not won any in the 93 years the event has been contested at the sport’s signature tournament. That ended in dramatic fashion Friday.

With the bout tied at 44, the anchors — Dershwitz for USA and Sebastien Patrice for France — took a moment to salute each other and shake hands. Both men recognized that they were part of something special.

But then the masks when back on, and it was time to fence for a single point to determine which nation left the match with a medal.

During the point, Patrice partially lost his balance, stepping near the edge of the strip with his left foot before regaining his balance and trying to attack. Dershwitz, who didn’t cause Patrice to slip, landed his attack. Only one light (red for USA) went on, and the referee never called halt.

It seemed clear to U.S. fans (and the FIE commentator Karim Bashir) that the touch should stand. But given the magnitude of the call, the referee and his assistant reviewed the video twice before determining that the point for Team USA would remain.

“To be perfectly honest, the last few hours have been a huge adrenaline rush,” Dershwitz says. “I think I'm going to have to go back to YouTube to see what happened. In tight matches, when you’re fencing well and your opponent’s fencing well, a lot of the plans go out the window. You have to rely on experience and just be able to make quick reactions. It's basically what we train ourselves for every day in practice.”

Saron, who helped turn the match around with an 8-4 seventh leg that put the Americans in front, 35-34, had several touches decided by video review. The finals area is beautiful, but its layout means the referees must walk nearly 40 feet to get to the video monitors. That leaves plenty of time for the fencers to wait, and they must decide how to use that time: by replaying the previous touch in their heads or by focusing on their next action.

“The correct thing to do is plan for the next thing,” Saron says. “But unfortunately, the video replay’s right up there [on the big screen]. So you’re kind of just watching it, seeing what the referee’s going to call. And I was praying for the call to get reversed or stay mine.”

Doddo, who had a pivotal 9-4 leg in Team USA’s quarterfinal win over Germany, said that the atmosphere of the finals area could be intimidating.

“But luckily, Eli had already fenced on the finals strip and absorbed all that there was,” Doddo says. “It was nerve wracking, but I think when we were in the match, we were able to focus and not worry about all the antics — and ended up winning a literal nailbiting bout.”

After the quarterfinals win over Germany, Team USA was feeling on cloud nine — they knew that they’d have two shots at a medal. But with a less resilient team, all that enthusiasm might have evaporated when they lost to Korea in the semifinals, 45-27.

The athletes didn’t let that happen, shaking off the loss and preparing to fence for bronze just 40 minutes later.

“I think the most important thing was to just forget about what happened,” Heathcock says. “To forget everything and just focus on this match.”

Shortly after the team won, Dershwitz gathered the guys together for a quick huddle.

“At every point today, someone struggled,” he says. “Everyone picked each other up today.”

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In other team action, the Women’s Foil squad of Lee Kiefer OLY, Jackie Dubrovich OLY, Lauren Scruggs and Maia Weintraub had just one match on Friday, a convincing Round of 16 win over Hong Kong, China, 45-14. They’ll fence Poland on Saturday morning for a spot in the semifinals.

In Men’s Epee, the Americans — Dylan Nollner, Stephen Ewart, Tristan Szapary and Samuel Imrek — beat Turkmenistan in the Round of 64 before losing to Germany in the Round of 32 and finishing the tournament in 22nd place.

Men’s Saber — Team (Eli Dershwitz OLY, Colin Heathcock, Andrew Doddo, Mitchell Saron): Bronze Medal

• Round of 64: Bye
• Round of 32: Defeated India, 45-22
• Round of 16: Defeated Romania, 45-38
• Quarterfinals: Defeated Germany, 45-38
• Semifinals: Lost to Korea, 45-27
• Bronze Medal Match: Defeated France, 45-44

Men’s Epee — Team (Dylan Nollner, Stephen Ewart, Tristan Szapary, Samuel Imrek): 22nd place

• Round of 64: Defeated Turkmenistan, 45-22
• Round of 32: Lost to Germany, 45-36

Women’s Foil — Team (Lee Kiefer OLY, Jackie Dubrovich OLY, Lauren Scruggs, Maia Weintraub):

• Round of 32: Bye
• Round of 16: Defeated Hong Kong, China, 45-14

See the great #BizziTeam photos here.