(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – The U.S. Men’s Foil Team withdrew from the team event on Sunday at the London International Invitational Men’s Foil Competition following injuries to two of the team’s four members.
During the gold medal bout of the individual event on Saturday between Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.) and Miles Chamley-Watson (Philadelphia, Pa.), Chamley-Watson injured his hamstring and entered the team event as the alternate with Meinhardt, Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.) and Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.) scheduled to start the opening match against France.
During the first bout between Meinhardt and Brice Guyart (FRA), the 2004 Olympic Champion who Meinhardt defeated in the table of 32 on Saturday, Meinhardt was up 4-2 when he pulled his hamstring.
Following a 10-minute medical timeout, Meinhardt was unable to move on the strip and Guyart took the bout, 5-4.
With Meinhardt injured, Chamley-Watson was substituted into the match and Massialas and Imboden worked to keep the team in the hunt, but France won the bout, 43-38.
After the match, the team elected to withdraw from the consolation rounds in order to prevent further injuries.
The withdrawal came on the heels of outstanding individual results for the U.S. Team on Saturday in which Meinhardt and Chamley-Watson won gold and silver medals, respectively. Imboden finished fourth and Massialas placed 11th in the Olympic test event.
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