USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – London Olympian Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.) earned her best finish at a European World Cup on Saturday when she placed fifth at the Tauberbischofsheim Foil World Cup in Germany.

Prescod, a redshirt sophomore at Columbia, was seeded 10^th in the tournament and earned an exemption from the first day of competition on Friday.

In the direct elimination tables, Prescod fenced three straight bouts against Russian opponents.

Prescod led her opening bout over Tatiana Myasnikova (RUS), 9-4, after the first period and took the win, 15-7, late in the second period.

In the table of 64, Prescod held Anastasia Ivanova scoreless at 4-0 in the first period and built a 8-3 lead after the second period. Prescod outscored Ivanova, 7-2, in the final period to win the bout, 15-5.

After a slow first period of her table of 16 bout against 2011 Senior World Team medalist Larisa Korobeynikova (RUS), Prescod led the bout, 4-1, and nearly finished the win after the second period, but fell a touch short. Up 14-8 at the start of the third period, Prescod took just six seconds to end the bout with a 15-9 win.

In the quarter-finals, Prescod was outscored, 15-5, by two-time Olympic and four-time Senior World Champion Elisa Di Francisca (ITA).

Prescod’s Olympic teammate, Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.), was exempt from pools as the 16^th seed, but Hungarian Fanny Kreiss (HUN) led their table of 64 bout, 12-6, after the second period. Ross scored six touches in the third, but Kreiss closed out the bout, 15-12. Ross finished 35^th overall.

Three-time Junior World medalist and Columbia freshman Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn.) went 3-2 in the pools and defeated Maud Rouas (FRA), 15-9, in the preliminary table of 64 on Friday.

On Saturday, Lu lost her first bout to 2012 Olympic Team medalist Hee Suk Jeon (KOR), 15-6, and finished 54^th.

Click here to view complete results.

Top eight and U.S. results are as follows, including athletes who finished outside the top 64 on Friday:

Tauberbischofsheim Individual Foil World Cup
1. Inna Deriglazova (RUS)
2. Elisa Di Francisca (ITA)
3. Aida Mohamed (HUN)
3. Arianna Errigo (ITA)
5. Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
6. Gil Ok Jung (KOR)
7. Olga Rachele Calissi (ITA)
8. Benedetta Durando (ITA)

35. Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.)
54. Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn.)
67. Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)
79. Sara Taffel (New York City, N.Y.)