USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – The U.S. Women’s 60-69 Saber Team earned the top three spots on the podium at the Veteran World Championships in Varna, Bulgaria on Friday.

Jane Eyre (Swedesboro, N.J.), Jeannine Bender (Arlington, Va.) and Delia Turner (Philadelphia, Pa.) won gold, silver and bronze, respectively – marking the first time the feat has been achieved by a U.S. team at the Veteran Worlds since 2005.

Eyre, Turner and Bender held the top three seeds out of the pools and 2012 Veteran World silver medalist Linda Dunn (Indianapolis, Ind.) entered the direct elimination tables as the fifth seed.

Eyre, a two-time Veteran World Champion in the 50-59 category, made an early statement with a 10-1 victory over Marie Josephe Lepeltier (FRA) in the table of 16.

In the quarter-finals, Eyre faced Karin Jansen (GER) who was coming off a silver medal finish in the epee competition on Thursday. Eyre took the win to advance to the semifinals of the Veteran Worlds for the fifth time in her career.

Turner, a two-time Veteran World Champion, cruised through her opening two bouts against seven-time Veteran World medalist Brigitte Martin (FRA) and Francesca Attianese (ITA) to win by 10-0 and 10-2 scores, respectively.

The wins set Turner up to fence Jeannine Bender (Arlington, Va.) who broke through in 2012 with a bronze medal win in her last year of eligibility as a 50-59 fencer.

After a 10-1 win against Annegrett Hamann (GER) in the table of 16, Bender defeated Yvonne Walls (GBR), 10-5, in the quarter-finals.

Although Turner and Bender hadn’t fenced each other in an individual event since March, the bout was bound to be close and, indeed, Bender took the win by two touches, to advance to the gold medal final against Eyre who won her semi over two-time Veteran World medalist Silvia Earl (GBR) who upset Dunn, 10-7, in the quarters.

The gold medal final came down to a 9-9 tie with Eyre scoring the final touch to win her third Veteran World title, 10-9.

In the veteran men’s 50-59 epee competition, Frank Van Dyke (Las Vegas, Nev.) entered the table of 64 as the 40^th seed, but the first-time Veteran World Team member remained determined to win Team USA’s first medal in the event in four years.

Van Dyke won his opening direct elimination bout against Igor Shelamov (ISR), 10-8, and defeated Hristo Rusev (BUL), 10-5, in the table of 32.

After a 10-4 win over Jean Surmont (BEL) in the 16, Van Dyke nearly shut out Kazbek Abduragimov (RUS) for a 10-1 victory that secured Van Dyke his first international medal.

In the semis, Van Dyke lost to Philippe Cony (FRA), 10-5, and finished his first Veteran Worlds with a bronze medal.

Timothy Glass (Deerfield, Ill.) entered the Veteran Worlds as Team USA’s only Olympian in the delegation. The 1980 team member and 1975 Junior World medalist made his debut at the Veteran Worlds with a top-16 result.

Seeded 14^th out of the pools, Glass defeated Fredrik Sjodahl (SWE), 10-8, in the table of 64 and Andras Halmos (HUN), 10-5, in the table of 32.

Glass finished 13^th after a 10-2 loss to Volodymyr Sokolov (UKR) who went on to win his second Veteran World title.

Three-time Veteran World Team member Sean Ameli (Las Vegas, Nev.) and first-time team member Michael Perka (Mountain View, Calif.) were both eliminated in the table of 64.

Ameli had a fifth seed out of the pools, but lost to Boris Drahusak (SUI), 10-4, in the table of 64.

Perka lost a 10-6 bout to Rusev as the eighth seed in the table.

In the women’s 50-59 foil competition, Ursula Szpak (Trophy Club, Texas) advanced to the quarter-finals for the second straight year.

A fifth-place finisher at the 2012 Veteran Worlds, Szpak defeated four-time Veteran World medalist Gianna Cirillo (ITA), 10-7, in the table of 32 and took out Cirillo’s Italian teammate, Silvana Esposito, 10-3, in the table of 16.

Szpak finished in eighth place after a 10-6 loss in the quarters to Kaoru Amari who went on to take bronze and collect the first medal of the Veteran Worlds for the Japanese women’s team.

In the previous round, Amari ended Anne-Marie Walters’s streak of winning four straight medals at the Veteran World Championships with an 8-7 win in the table of 16. The Parkland, Fla. native finished 12^th overall.

Jennette Starks-Faulkner (Middletown, Conn.) won silver at the 2011 Veteran World Championships and finished second in the pools, but a 10-6 loss to Antoaneta Spasova (BUL) in the table of 16 left Starks-Faulkner with a 10^th place result.

First-time Veteran World Team member Lynn Botelho (Indiana, Pa.) won her table of 32 bout against Elena Filanskaya (RUS), 10-5, but lost in the next round to eventual silver medalist Eva Knorr (GER), 10-9.

Click here to view complete results.

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

Veteran Men’s 50-59 Epee
1. Volodymyr Sokolov (UKR)
2. Philippe Cony (FRA)
3. Cosimo Ferro (ITA)
3. Frank Van Dyke (Las Vegas, Nev.)
5. Georg Schmidt-Thomee (GER)
6. Kazbek Abduragimov (RUS)
7. Fabio Franchi (ITA)
8. Boris Drahusak (SUI)

13. Timothy Glass (Deerfield, Ill.)
33. Sean Ameli (Las Vegas, Nev.)
34. Michael Perka (Mountain View, Calif.)

Veteran Women’s 50-59 Foil
1. Liudmila Chernova (RUS)
2. Eva Knorr (GER)
3. Kaoru Amari (JPN)
3. Mieke De Graaf-Stoel (NED)
5. Jenny Bonney-Millet (AUS)
6. Antoaneta Spasova (BUL)
7. Annabelle Slowiaczek (AUS)
8. Ursula Szpak (Trophy Club, Texas)

10. Jennette Starks-Faulkner (Middletown, Conn.)
12. Anne-Marie Walters (Parkland, Fla.)
14. Lynn Botelho (Indiana, Pa.)

Veteran Women’s 60-69 Saber
1. Jane Eyre (Swedesboro, N.J.)
2. Jeannine Bender (Arlington, Va.)
3. Silvia Earl (GBR)
3. Delia Turner (Philadelphia, Pa.)
5. Linda Dunn (Indianapolis, Ind.)
6. Yvonne Walls (GBR)
7. Karin Jansen (GER)
8. Fran Attianese (ITA)