(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Jeff Spear (Wyantskill, N.Y.) earned his first top-32 finish at a World Cup this year in Madrid where he placed 24th on Saturday.
Spear advanced to the table of 64 after winning six straight bouts in the pools during preliminary competition on Friday.
In the table of 64, Spear won his first bout against 2010 Senior World medalist Cosmin Hanceanu (ROU), 15-13.
Spear lost his next bout to hometown favorite Jaime Marti (ESP), 15-11, in the table of 32 and finished 24th overall.
Beijing Olympic silver medalist James Williams (New York City, N.Y.) and two-time World Team member Benjamin Igoe (Staten Island, N.Y.) also qualified for the table of 64, but neither advanced to the next round. Williams lost to two-time Olympian Dmitri Lapkes (BLR), 15-10, and Igoe was defeated by 2004 Olympic silver medalist Zsolt Nemcsik (HUN), 15-8. Igoe finished the tournament in 46th place and Williams finished 52nd.
Spear, Williams, Igoe and 2008 Beijing Olympic silver medalist Tim Morehouse (New York City, N.Y.) competed in the team event on Sunday.
Team USA lost a close opening bout to Ukraine, 45-42, in the table of 16 and dropped down to the 9th – 16th place table.
The Americans soundly defeated Great Britain, 45-27, but lost to China, 45-42, in the next bout.
Fencing for 11th place against home team Spain, Team USA lost the bout, 45-32, to place 12th overall.
The finish keeps Team USA ahead of zonal rival Canada in the 2012 Olympic qualifying rankings at the conclusion of the second qualifying World Cup.
Top eight and U.S. individual results are as follows, including athletes who placed outside the top 64 on Friday:
Madrid Saber Individual World Cup
1. Alexey Yakimenko (RUS)
2. Julien Pillet (FRA)
3. Woo-Young Won (KOR)
3. Aido Montano (ITA)
5. Rares Dumitrescu (ROU)
6. Nikolay Kovalev (RUS)
7. Giampiero Pastore (ITA)
8. Bjoern Huebner (GER)
24. Jeff Spear (Wyantskill, N.Y.)
46. Benjamin Igoe (Staten Island, N.Y.)
52. James Williams (New York City, N.Y.)
66. Tim Morehouse (New York City, N.Y.)
78. Aleksander Ochocki (Clark, N.J.)
93. Avery Zuck (Portland, Ore.)
97. Daryl Homer (New York City, N.Y.)
102. Daniel Bak (Franklin Lakes, N.J.)
120. Luther Clement (New York City, N.Y.)
121. Mihail Etropolski (Floral Park, N.Y.)
154. John Jakelsky (Columbus, Ohio)
163. Teddy Weller (Barrington, R.I.)
Top eight team results are as follows:
Madrid Saber Team World Cup
1. Germany
2. Belarus
3. Italy
4. Russia
5. France
6. Hungary
7. Romania
8. Ukraine
Tag(s): News Ben Igoe Jeff Spear
