(Catania, Italy) – Young athletes often say they remember watching their idols win medals on the world and Olympic stage growing up. In Lee Kiefer’s case, fencing legend Valentina Vezzali (ITA) won the first of her 19 World Championship medals in 1994 – when Kiefer wasn’t even a month old.
Seventeen years later, Kiefer has become one of the most talented up-and-coming foil fencers in the world. And, on Tuesday, she became the second U.S. woman in history to win an individual medal in foil – just six months after winning silver medals in individual and team events at the Junior Worlds and a silver at the Cadet Worlds.
Twelve years after Iris Zimmermann (Rochester, N.Y.) won bronze at the 1999 World Championships following a semifinal loss to Vezzali as an 18-year-old, Kiefer found herself on the semifinal strip competing against the most decorated athlete in fencing history.
Ranked #13 in the world, Kiefer is a three-time Junior World medalist who is competing this week at her third Senior Worlds after finishing 27th in 2010.
After earning an opening win over teammate Doris Willette (Lafayette, Calif.) in the table of 64, 15-10, Kiefer advanced to the table of 32 where she defeated Anja Schache (GER), 15-8. Kiefer’s victory over Schache marked the first time Kiefer had advanced to the table of 16 at a Senior Worlds.
In the table of 16, Kiefer started off slowly against Jinyan Chen (CHN), but soon took control of the bout to earn the win, 15-10.
Competing in the quarter-finals for the first time at either a Senior World Cup or World Championships, Kiefer said she went into her bout against Martyna Synoradzka (POL) just looking to enjoy the experience.
“I’ve never made it past the 16 at a senior event like this before and, really, just getting to the 16 is a good day for me, so I wanted to have fun with it. I went out there and danced around while we got ready and just had a good time,” Kiefer said.
With the bout tied at seven apiece, Kiefer found herself trailing an opponent by a significant margin for the first time of the day as Synoradzka pulled ahead to take an 11-8 lead in the third period.
Kiefer soon regrouped and reeled off five straight touches to win the bout, 15-12.
With a medal guaranteed, Kiefer entered the semifinal bout against Vezzali – a fencer who had beat Kiefer, 15-4, at the Gdansk Grand Prix in February.
“Oh, she destroyed me,” Kiefer laughed in reference to their last bout.
This time, however, Kiefer held her own against Vezzali.
“We pretty much had two game plans. I could either go out there and do a low scoring bout, like a two-point bout and see how that goes. Or I could just do what I want and control the distance. And I really don’t like slow fencing, so I just wanted to fence my style,” Kiefer said. “I had a lot of fun fencing her. Last time I fenced her it was 15-4. This time it’s 15-10. If I keep improving, eventually I’m going to beat her.”
Kiefer opened with the first score of the bout and held onto a 2-1 lead for the first minute. Late in the first period, however, Vezzali picked up four touches to take a four-point lead on Kiefer, 8-4.
Both athletes kept up a fast pace in the second, but Kiefer couldn’t close the gap and lost the bout, 15-10.
“Honestly, I know I shouldn’t be happy with a loss, but I fenced so much better than I did last time, that I’m happy,” Kiefer said after the bout. “I won a bronze medal and I know that I’ll keep getting better and soon I’ll be able to beat her.”
After winning the bronze, Kiefer said her achievement still hadn’t sunk in yet.
“It blew my mind because everyone here’s so awesome. It’s hard to be happy with yourself when you don’t win, but I’m happy with myself,” Kiefer said. “Fencing Vezzali and those girls has given me so much more confidence. I started doing seniors three years ago and when I fenced the Worlds, that was just my second event as a senior ever. I started then and everyone was so strong that it was really depressing coming from Y14 and cadet events. Fencing people who were so much better was kind of a low point and I was really miserable. But the more I improve on people, the more confidence I get now.”
All three of Willette’s teammates advanced to the table of 64 today as well.
Competing on her second Senior World Team, Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.) finished 14th – a career high result for Ross at a World Cup or World Championship event after placing 28th at the 2010 Senior Worlds.
Ross opened with a 14-9 win over Po Heung Lin (HKG) and defeated 2004 Olympic medalist Sylwia Gruchala (POL), 15-9, in the table of 32. Ross finished 14th overall after a 15-7 loss in the table of 16 to Ilaria Salvatori (ITA).
Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.), a three-time Senior World Team member and the reigning Junior World Champion, finished 19th. Prescod, who was seeded 16th going into the Senior World Championships, nearly shut out her first opponent – Chie Yoshizawa (JPN) – when she earned an 11-0 lead before winning the bout, 15-3.
In the table of 32, however, Prescod lost to Carolin Golubytskyi (GER), 15-9.
After her loss to Kiefer, Willette finished the event in 53rd place while Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Competition also was held on Tuesday in the men’s saber event; however, all three members of the U.S. team were eliminated in the table of 64.
A 12th place finisher at this event in 2010, three-time Senior World Team member Daryl Homer (New York City, N.Y.) earned an exemption from competition in the preliminary rounds on Sunday, but struggled in his bout to Tiberiu Dolnceanu (ROU) before losing the bout, 15-13. Homer’s loss resulted in a 34th place finish.
Beijing Olympic silver medalist James Williams (New York City, N.Y.) lost his bout in the table of 64 to former World and Olympic medalist Zsolt Nemcsik (HUN), 15-8, and finished 47th overall.
Williams’ Beijing teammate Tim Morehouse (New York City, N.Y.) led his bout against Dmitri Lapkes (BLR), 14-12, but Lapkes earned three straight touches to close out the bout 15-14 and Morehouse finished the day in 51st place.
Although the squad was disappointed with their individual finishes, all three athletes returned to the evening finals session to cheer on Kiefer as she won her bronze medal.
“We’re all obviously really disappointed with how today went, but we’re going to train hard and the U.S. Men’s Saber Team will be back,” Morehouse said. “And we all want to congratulate Lee on her bronze medal. She did awesome today and we’re proud she’s representing Team USA well.”
In fact, both the men’s saber and women’s foil teams will have a second chance at gold later this week when the team competition is held on Friday. All four women’s foil fencers will compete in the team event and the men’s saber squad members will be joined by their teammate Ben Igoe (Staten Island, N.Y.) who was eliminated in the table of 64 on Sunday.
Competition continues on Wednesday with the table of 64 for men’s epee and women’s saber in which two-time individual World Champion Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.) will fence for her third straight World title. The competition schedule for the remainder of the week is as follows:
Wednesday, Oct. 12 – Individual Table of 64
Men’s Epee
Seth Kelsey (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Cody Mattern (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Ben Bratton (New York City, N.Y.)
Soren Thompson (New York City, N.Y.)
Women’s Saber
Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.)
Ibtihaj Muhammad (Maplewood, N.J.)
Daria Schneider (New York City, N.Y.)
Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J.)
Thursday, Oct. 13 – Individual Table of 64
Women’s Epee
Courtney Hurley (San Antonio, Texas)
Maya Lawrence (Teaneck, N.J.)
Lindsay Campbell (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Men’s Foil
Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.)
Miles Chamley-Watson (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)
Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Friday, Oct. 14 – Team Competition
Women’s Foil
Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.)
Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.)
Doris Willette (Lafayette, Calif.)
Men’s Saber
Daryl Homer (New York City, N.Y.)
Ben Igoe (Staten Island, N.Y.)
Tim Morehouse (New York City, N.Y.)
James Williams (New York City, N.Y.)
Saturday, Oct. 15 – Team Competition
Men’s Epee
Ben Bratton (New York City, N.Y.)
Seth Kelsey (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Cody Mattern (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Soren Thompson (New York City, N.Y.)
Women’s Saber
Ibtihaj Muhammad (Maplewood, N.J.)
Daria Schneider (New York City, N.Y.)
Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J.)
Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.)
Sunday, Oct. 16 - Team Competition
Women’s Epee
Lindsay Campbell (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Courtney Hurley (San Antonio, Texas)
Kelley Hurley (San Antonio, Texas)
Maya Lawrence (Teaneck, N.J.)
Men's Foil
Miles Chamley-Watson (Philadelphia, Pa)
Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)
Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.)
Tag(s): News Lee Kiefer
