USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Two-time Olympian Soren Thompson (New York City, N.Y.) earned his first top-16 result of the season on Sunday when he finished 10^th at the Vancouver Epee Grand Prix in Canada.

Thompson was one of five Americans to fence in the table of 64 on Sunday and the only U.S. fencer to be exempt from the pools and preliminary tables on Saturday.

Seeded 11^th in the table of 64, Thompson won his first bout over Alexey Kalinin (RUS), 15-9, and defeated Marc Antoine Blais-Belanger (CAN), 15-8, in the table of 32.

In the table of 16, Thompson fenced a close bout against London Olympic medalist Jinsun Jung (KOR), but lost the bout, 15-12.

Jason Pryor (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Alexander Tsinis (New York City, N.Y.) each came a step closer to qualifying for a first-ever position on the Senior World Team with top-32 results in Vancouver.

Pryor went 4-2 in the pools on Saturday to advance to his first international table of 64 of the season.

On Sunday, Pryor edged Canadian Vincent Pelletier, 15-13, in the opening round. Pryor drew top seed and Olympic Champion Ruben Limardo (VEN) in the table of 32. Limardo took the win, 15-8, and Pryor finished 26^th to move up to sixth in the U.S. senior team standings.

Alexander Tsinis (New York City, N.Y.), the reigning National Champion, split his pool bouts, 3-3, on Saturday and opened the direct elimination tables with a 15-11 win over Marc-Andre Leblanc (CAN).

Tsinis lost his table of 32 bout to 2011 Senior World Team Champion Yannick Borel (FRA), 15-13, to finish 40^th. Following his second top-32 finish of the season, Tsinis moved up to #2 in the U.S. team standings.

Adam Rodney (New York City, N.Y.) finished the pools with a 4-2 record and his 37^th seed pitted him against 2008 Olympic Champion Matteo Tagliariol (ITA). The Italian won the bout, 15-9, and went on to claim his first international title since 2011. Rodney finished 44^th – his highest career result at a Grand Prix tournament.

Like Rodney, two-time Junior World Team member Dwight Smith (Elmont, N.Y.) earned his first top-64 result of the international season. Fencing in a five-man pool, Smith went 2-3 on Saturday and lost his bout to eventual bronze medalist Joerg Fiedler (GER), 15-9.

Click here to view complete results.

Top eight and U.S. results are as follows:

Vancouver Epee Grand Prix
1. Matteo Tagliariol (ITA)
2. Nikolai Novosjolov (EST)
3. Joerg Fiedler (GER)
3. Gabor Boczko (HUN)
5. Max Heinzer (SUI)
6. Ruben Limardo (VEN)
7. Fabian Kauter (SUI)
8. Jinsun Jung (KOR)

10. Soren Thompson (New York City, N.Y.)
26. Jason Pryor (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
30. Alexander Tsinis (New York City, N.Y.)
44. Adam Rodney (New York City, N.Y.)
57. Dwight Smith (Elmont, N.Y.)
68. Teddy Sherrill (New York City, N.Y.)
70. Jimmy Moody (Colorado Springs, Colo.)