USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – London Olympian Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.) finished the 2013 World Cup season by becoming the first U.S. women’s foil fencer ever to win a Grand Prix title after she captured gold in Marseille, France in May.

On Saturday, Prescod picked up where she left off with a silver medal win at the Gdansk Grand Prix in Poland.

Exempt from the pool rounds on Friday as the 12^th seed in the tournament, Prescod advanced directly to the table of 64 on Saturday where she opened with a 15-12 win over Yun Shi (CHN).

In the table of 32, Prescod fenced the first of three Russian opponents in the tournament – Tatiana Myasnikova (RUS) – and won the bout, 15-11.

After a quick, 15-4, win over Karolina Chlewinska (POL), Prescod secured her second Grand Prix medal when she defeated 2013 Senior World medalist Inna Deriglazova (RUS), 15-14, in the quarter-finals.

Prescod fenced Larisa Korobeynikova (RUS), the No. 5 women’s foil fencer in the world, in the semis. Prescod, who was 1-2 against the Russian in their previous bouts, added a second victory to her resume with a 15-11 win.  

In the gold medal final, Prescod was outscored by reigning Senior World Champion Arianna Errigo (ITA), 15-8.

Prescod’s silver medal win means the Columbia junior is expected to move into a top-six world ranking on Monday.

Prescod’s London Olympic teammate, Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.), finished 19^th.

Ross, who was seeded 16^th in the table of 64, defeated Natalia Sheppard (GBR), 10-8, but lost her next bout to Chen Wang (CHN), 15-12. Ross finished 19^th overall.

London Olympian Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.) and Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn.) were both eliminated in the table of 64 and placed 35^th and 39^th, respectively.

Seeded 11^th in the direct elimination tables, Kiefer lost her bout to 2003 Junior World Team Champion Benedetta Durando (ITA), 15-5.

Lu, who advanced to the table of 64 after a 4-2 result in the pools on Friday. In the table of 64, Lu lost her bout to Mina Kim (KOR), 14-11.

Click here to view complete results.

Top eight and U.S. results, including athletes who were did not advance to the table of 64, are as follows:

Gdansk Foil Grand Prix
1. Arianna Errigo (ITA)
2. Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
3. Larisa Korobeynikova (RUS)
3. Huilin Le (CHN)
5. Inna Deriglazova (RUS)
6. Carolin Golubytskyi (GER)
7. Elisa Di Francisca (ITA)
8. Astrid Guyart (FRA)

19. Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.)
35. Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.)
39. Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn.)
74. Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)
85. Madison Zeiss (Culver City, Calif.)