For Immediate Release
7 November 2010
MEINHARDT EARNS BRONZE
U.S. men’s foilists achieved historic results today at the 2010 World Fencing Championships in Paris, France. Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.) earned a bronze medal in the Individual Men’s Foil and Miles Chamley-Watson (Philadelphia, Pa.) placed fifth. Never before have two U.S. men’s foil fencers reached the quarterfinals at a Senior World Championships.
Meinhardt began the day seeded 14th in the table of 64. He defeated Jamie Kenber of Great Britain 15-10 in his first bout, Sebastian Bachmann 15-12 in his second, and then downed Andriy Pogrebnyak of the Ukraine in a 15-14 squeeker. He was behind in that bout 12-14 at one point, and reeled off three touches in a row for the win.
“To be honest, I was hoping to make the top 16 as I did last year, and from there on, I was just fencing touch by touch every bout,” Meinhardt said.
Meinhardt beat Maor Hatoel of Israel to advance to the semifinals. There, he was finally stopped by Peter Joppich of Germany, losing the bout 15-11. Joppich went on to win the gold, defeating Sheng Lei of China.
“I was actually able to beat him earlier this year, and I felt fairly confident as far as not getting blown out. It was close in the beginning. Every once in a while I would stray from my plan, and he was able to pull ahead in the double digits, being the experienced fencer that he is,” said Meinhardt.
Meinhardt’s bronze should not overshadow the fifth-place finish of Chamley-Watson. Chamley-Watson, seeded ninth, pulled off two 15-14 victories to advance through the table until he lost to Lei in the quarterfinals (15-10).
“In the beginning of the day I felt pretty rough,” Chamely-Watson said. “I was down 14-7 in my first bout, and then something clicked. … Today was a wild day. Against Lei, I fenced really well through the first two periods, he got an attack I thought was mine at 10-10, and then I made two stupid errors, and he made two nice touches at end to finish.”
Kurt Getz (Rye, N.Y.) defeated his round of 64 competitor Carlos Eduardo Rodriguez of Venezuela 15-13 but lost his next bout 15-7 to Jun Heo of Korea.
Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.), among the youngest of the competitors at only 16, narrowly lost his first elimination bout 15-13 to Benjamin Kleibrink of Germany. Massialas was by far the youngest competitor to finish in the top 64.
Chamley-Watson and Meinhardt said their teammates are excited for the Team Men’s Foil competition, to be held on Thursday, Nov. 11.
“I think we can definitely make a run at a medal,” said Chamley-Watson.
“We’re definitely motivated to go out there and put an exclamation mark on our individual performances, and try and establish that we belong up there, back up this performance,” said Meinhardt.
Individual Women’s Foil also concluded today, and three of the four U.S. competitors reached the top 32 of the competition.
Nicole Ross (New York, N.Y.) won her round of 64 bout against Kanae Ikehata of Japan 15-5 but was defeated in a heartbreaking bout that went to time (7-5) by Hee Sok Jeon of Korea.
Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.) defeated Sandra Kleinberger 15-10 in her round of 64 bout but then was soundly defeated by the experienced Elisa DiFrancisca of Italy, 15-5. DiFrancisca was on fire on Sunday, and went on to win the gold.
Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.) beat Karonlina Chlewinska of Poland 15-3 in her first bout, but then fell to Fanny Kreiss of Hungary 10-9 in a match that went 30 seconds into overtime.
Doris WIllette (LaFayette, Calif.) fought hard against Mi Jung Seo in her first elimination bout but was defeated in a bout that went to time, 13-10.
Tomorrow, stay tuned for the finals of the Individual Men’s and Women’s Epee events, plus more wheelchair action.
The World Championships are held in Paris, France, Nov. 4-13 by the Federation International d’Escrime (www.fie.ch), the international governing body of the sport. For more information about the event, and for complete results, see
www.escrime-2010.com.
About USA Fencing: USA Fencing is the national governing body of the sport of fencing in the United States. USA Fencing is affiliated with the Féderation Internationale d'Escrime (FIE), the international federation for fencing, and with the US Olympic Committee. USA Fencing is based at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
About the FIE: The Federation Internationale d’Escrime, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, is the international governing body for the Olympic sport of fencing. The FIE is composed of 135 national federations, each of which is recognized by its country's Olympic Committee as the sole representative of Olympic-style fencing in that country.
2010 WORLD FENCING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Nov. 4-13, 2010, Paris, France
Sat., Nov. 6 Results
INDIVIDUAL MEN’S FOIL
156 competitors
1. JOPPICH Peter GER
2. LEI Shang CHN
3T. OTA Yuki JPN
3T. Gerek Meinhardt (20, San Francisco, Calif./Massialas/NDU)
5. Miles Chamley-Watson (20, Philadelphia, Pa./Fencers Club/PSU)
6. SINTES Victor FRA
7. HERTSYK Rostislav UKR
8. HATOEL Maor ISR
22. Kurt Getz (22, Rye, N.Y./Fenc. Acad. Westchester)
43. Alexander Massialas (16, San Francisco, Calif./Massialas)
INDIVIDUAL WOMEN’S FOIL
88 competitors
27. Lee Kiefer (16, Lexington, Ky./Bluegrass FC)
32. Nzihgha Prescod (18, Brooklyn, N.Y./Westbrook Found.)
28. Nicole Ross (21, New York, N.Y./Fencers Club/Columbia)
40. Doris Willette (22, Lafayette, Calif./Massialas/PSU)
Wheelchair Men’s Foil, Cat. A
33 competitors
10. CALHOUN Mark (Bremen, Ga./Shepherd Swords F.C.)
25. RODRIGUEZ Mario (Ventura, Calif./Salle D’Asaro/Santa Barbara F.A.)
31 ASPY Dennis (Woodstock, Ga./Shepherd Swords F.C.)
Wheelchair Men’s Foil, Cat. B
34 competitors
24 ESTEP Ryan (Florence, Miss./Methodist Rehab Center)
29 MC GAHA Ken (Douglasville, Ga./Shepherd Swords F.C.)
Wheelchair Women’s Foil, Cat. B
18 competitors
18 DEMELLO Andrea (New York, N.Y./Fencers Club)
