USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – London Olympian Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.) earned two top-eight finishes over the weekend at the Budapest Foil World Cup – the first on Saturday in the individual event and the second on Sunday in the team competition.

Seeded 11^th in the individual tournament, Kiefer was exempt from the pools and preliminary rounds on Friday and opened with a 14-10 win over Anne Knauer (GER) in the table of 64 on Saturday.

After a 15-12 victory in the table of 32 against Anastasia Ivanova (RUS), Kiefer edged 2013 Senior World Team Champion Carolina Erba (ITA), 15-14, to advance to the quarter-finals.

Kiefer fell a touch short of winning her first World Cup medal after an 11-10 loss in the quarters to eventual gold medalist Valentina Cipriani (ITA).

Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.), Kiefer’s teammate at the 2012 Games, went 6-0 in the pools on Friday to earn the 21^st seed in the table of 64.

Ross finished 37^th after a 15-12 loss in her opening direct elimination bout to 2010 Senior World team medalist Ha Na Oh (KOR).

Reigning Cadet World silver medalist Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.) went 4-1 in the pools and earned a quick preliminary table of 64 win over Catherine Cook (GBR), 15-4, to advance to the second day of competition.

Massialas lost her opening bout on Saturday to 2012 Junior World Champion Alice Volpi (ITA) who went on to take the silver medal.

Although Team USA had just three fencers, the Americans earned one of their best results in the past year with a fifth-place finish on Sunday.

With no ability to substitute athletes, Ross anchored Team USA to a 39-33 win over Japan in the table of 16.

Team USA lost in the quarters to Russia, the 2013 Senior World silver medalists, by a score of 45-35, but finished the day with back-to-back wins over Hungary, 43-42, and Germany, 41-34.

Click here to view complete results.

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

Budapest Individual Foil World Cup
1. Valentina Cipriani (ITA)
2. Alice Volpi (ITA)
3. Arianna Erigo (ITA)
3. Hyun Hee Nam (KOR)
5. Inna Deriglazova (RUS)
6. Hee Sook Jeon (KOR)
7. Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.)
8. Corinne Maitrejean (FRA)

37. Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.)
43. Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)

Budapest Team Foil World Cup
1. Italy
2. Russia
3. France
4. Poland
5. USA
6. Germany
7. Korea
8. Hungary