(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – After a difficult day in the pools where she won two of six bouts on Friday, Kelley Hurley (San Antonio, Texas) found herself with one of the toughest opponents in the table of 64 on Saturday at the Leipzig Epee World Cup in Germany – world #1 Yujie Sun (CHN).
Sun, a 20-year-old who won the silver medal at the Senior World Championships, hasn’t lost to an American since 2008.
And, while Sun was exempt from the pools and preliminary tables on Friday, Hurley needed two more wins – over Clementine Fernandez (FRA), 15-11, and Yuk Han Bjork Cheng (HKG), 15-9, in the preliminary tables – just to advance to the table of 64 on Saturday.
Hurley, a Beijing Olympian and replacement athlete for the London squad, stepped up to the challenge of facing Sun in the first round and built an 8-6 lead by the end of the second period.
Hurley kept up the momentum in the third period where she outscored Sun, 7-4, in less than two minutes to win the bout, 15-10.
In the table of 32, Anfisa Pochkalova (UKR) led the bout against Hurley, 3-2, after the first period, but Hurley held onto the lead after tying the score at three in the second period and went on to win the bout, 15-12.
Fencing in the table of 16 for the first time at a European event since she finished 15th at the Senior World Championships, Hurley kept her bout with Erika Kirpu (EST) close, but ended the day in 16th place after a 15-13 loss to the Estonian who also defeated Hurley’s younger sister,Courtney Hurley (San Antonio, Texas) by the same score in the table of 32. Courtney, who will compete at her first Olympic Games in London, placed 20th overall.
Thirty-one-year-old Lindsay Campbell (Brooklyn, N.Y.) fell just short of qualifying for the London team in April, but the five-time Senior World Team member earned her first top-16 result at a World Cup since 2010 with her 15th place result on Saturday.
After a 3-3 finish in the pools, Campbell won her bout against Anastasia Ivchenko (UKR), 15-13, in the preliminary table of 64 on Friday.
On Saturday, Campbell defeated 2006 Junior World Champion Tiffany Geroudet (SUI), 15-10, in the table of 64 and won her next bout against Avital Marinuk (ISR), 15-7.
In the table of 16, two-time Senior World medalist Irina Embrich (EST) took a 14-9 lead against Campbell who scored three unanswered touches in the last minute of the bout before the Embrich closed out the win, 15-12.
London nominee Susie Scanlan (St. Paul, Minn.) went 4-2 in the pools and defeated Auriane Mallo (FRA), 15-9, in the preliminary table of 64.
On Saturday, Scanlan finished 30th after a 15-9 win over Malgorzata Stroka (POL) in the table of 64 and a 15-10 loss to Angi Xu (CHN) in the table of 32.
Eighteen-year-old Nina Van Loon (Boulder, Colo.) was the only member of Team USA to advance directly out of the pools to the table of 64. After going undefeated (5-0) in the pools on Friday, Van Loon lost her bout to Katarzyna Dabrowa (POL), 15-10, and finished 38th overall.
London nominee Maya Lawrence (Teaneck, N.J.) split her pools (3-3) and defeated Miho Morioka (JPN), 15-9, in the preliminary table of 64 on Friday.
Lawrence drew 2004 Olympic Champion Laura Flessel-Colovic (FRA) in the table of 64 – a fencer she defeated at the Senior Worlds in October.
This time, Flessel-Colovic took the win, 15-7, and Lawrence finished 59th.
Top eight and U.S results are as follows:
Leipzig Epee Individual World Cup
1. Josephine Jacques Andre Coquin (FRA)
2. Irina Embrich (EST)
3. Loredana Dinu (ROU)
3. Kirstina Kuusk (EST)
5. Na Li (CHN)
6. Yana Shemyakina (UKR)
7. Angi Xu (CHN)
8. Erika Kirpu (EST)
15. Lindsay Campbell (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
16. Kelley Hurley (San Antonio, Texas)
20. Courtney Hurley (San Antonio, Texas)
30. Susie Scanlan (St. Paul, Minn.)
38. Nina Van Loon (Boulder, Colo.)
57. Maya Lawrence (Teaneck, N.J.)
Tag(s): News Kelley Hurley Maya Lawrence
