USA Fencing

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — It was a great three days as the Team USA epee squads collected three bronze and a silver medal in the individual competitions and a gold medal in the women’s team competition.

Team USA bringing home the gold in Junior Women’s Epee team event marks just the second time the United States has won in event history. The other came in 2008 with the quartet of Emily D’Agostino, Courtney Hurley, Kelley Hurley, and Susie Sanlan.

In a dominant battle against Italy, Team USA took the win with a final score of 42-27. Yasmine Kahmis (Alliance Fencing Academy) said “We haven’t fully taken it in yet, but it’s such an amazing moment to be here with each other and to have won.” 

Leehi Machulsky (Academy of Fencing Masters), referenced how it was each of their first time in a final at World Championships, and how they needed to “have a positive mindset and be supportive of each other.”

The team — including Khamis, Machulsky, Michaela Joyce (University Of Notre Dame and Elite Fencing Academy (VA)) and Sarah Gu (Medeo Fencing Club) consistently talked about the need to trust one another and how that helped propel them past France in the semifinals and ultimately to the top of the podium. 

Gu talked about how tough the day was, saying “there were a lot of countries that fought incredibly well and there were a lot of close calls but I think we all trusted each other, and that was one of the best things we did.” 

On Monday, Machulsky took bronze in the Junior Women’s Epee individual competition. In doing so, she continued the Team USA streak of earning medals every year over the past five years in the Junior Women’s Epee event (2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 — the tournament was not held in 2020).

“I feel amazing,” she says. “It was a great day, amazing result, and it was my best result so far, so I am really happy.” 

In Junior Men’s Epee, it was another bronze medal for Samuel Imrek (Alliance Fencing Academy) as he claimed bronze in 2023 and did again at this year's World Championships. Imrek says he fenced “a difficult match” to get to the medal round, defeating a tough fencer from Estonia. That 15-14 match propelled Samuel to claiming a bronze medal. 

On Tuesday, Day 2 of the epee competitions, the cadets proved to be a force to reckon with as they also brought home two medals, a silver and bronze. Representing the same club, Sharika Gajjala (Medeo Fencing Club) and Alexander Bezrodnov (Medeo Fencing Club) claimed silver and bronze, respectively. 

For Gajjala, this was the first silver medal for Cadet Women’s Epee since 2018, won by Emily Vermeule. Both Gajjala and Bezrodnov shared their excitement over their results and how proud they were to represent Team USA and their club.

The men’s epee team competition resulted in the team of Imrek, Henry Lawson, Skyler Liverant Noah Silvers taking fifth place.