(Catania, Italy) – Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.) will attempt to make history tonight when she aims to become the first saber fencer ever to win three straight individual gold medals at the Senior World Championships.
Zagunis, the two-time reigning Senior World Champion and two-time Olympic Champion, will fence Julia Gavrilova (RUS) in the semifinals at 12:35 p.m. Eastern. The finals bouts will be shown live at www.fie.org.
Advancing to the semifinals guarantees Zagunis her fourth career individual Senior World Championship medal and the winner of the bout will face the winner of the semifinal bout between two-time World silver medalist Olga Kharlan (UKR) and two-time World medalist Sophia Velikaia (RUS).
Earlier in the day, Kharlan defeated Zagunis’s teammate Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J.), 15-12, in the table of 16.
Zagunis opened the competition with a 15-11 win over Elena Muneanu (ROU) in the table of 64 and dominated most of her bout against Karina Lakerbai (BRA) to win the bout, 15-7.
Zagunis’s next two wins came against Seira Nakayama (JPN), 15-9, in the table of 16 and Irene Vecchi (ITA), 15-7, in the quarter-finals.
Other U.S. finishes on Wednesday included:
Men’s Epee
10. Seth Kelsey (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
16. Soren Thompson (New York City, N.Y.)
27. Cody Mattern (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
53. Ben Bratton (New York City, N.Y.)
Women’s Saber
12. Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J.)
25. Ibtihaj Muhammad (Maplewood, N.J.)
26. Daria Schneider (New York City, N.Y.)
Tag(s): News Mariel Zagunis
