USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Three U.S. athletes each won medals on Wednesday to increase Team USA’s podium finishes to five at the Junior Worlds and 10 over the course of the Junior and Cadet Worlds in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Sage Palmedo (Portland, Ore.) and Gracie Stone (Chicago, Ill.) won silver and bronze in the saber event while foil fencer Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.) took bronze. Massialas’s ninth career Junior World medal is more than any fencer in U.S. history.

Seeded third at the start of the table of 32, Palmedo defeated Lea Krueger (GER), 15-10, to advance to the table of 16 where she won her bout against Hengyu Yang (CHN), 15-11.

A gold medalist in the team event at the 2013 Junior Worlds, Palmedo was one bout away from realizing her dream of an individual podium finish when she reached her quarter-final against Angelika Wator (POL).

Palmedo fenced one of her best bouts of the day and jumped out to an 8-2 lead against the German at the break. In the second period, Palmedo held Wator to just five touches as she took the win, 15-7.

Tied at 13 with Heewon Yang (KOR) in the table of 32, Stone took the next two touches for a 15-13 victory.

In the table of 16, Stone led the bout, 8-5, against Oleksandra Mamontova (UKR) at the end of the first period and held the Ukrainian to three touches in the second to win the bout, 15-8.

Although Stone was the only member of the saber team to be fencing at her first Junior Worlds, the thought of fencing in a quarter-final on the world stage didn’t appear to be intimidating as Stone outscored Yiqi Guo (CHN), 8-2, and gave up just one more in the second period to win the bout, 15-3.

The win moved Stone into the semis against Palmedo, marking the second time the teammates would fence in international competition this season.

It was Palmedo who took their gold medal final at the Sosnowiec Junior World Cup in Poland last fall and she ran away with the first period, 8-2. Stone regrouped in the second, but her teammate’s lead proved to be insurmountable and Palmedo won the bout, 15-10.

Stone finished the Junior Worlds with a bronze medal in her final season of junior eligibility.

In the gold medal final, Palmedo found herself in unfamiliar territory as 2011 Junior World medalist Anna Marton (HUN) came out with a 8-2 lead at the break. Palmedo scored six during the seventh, but Marton won the bout, 15-8.

Palmedo’s teammate, Francesca Russo (Wayne, N.J.), was eliminated by eventual bronze medalist Luca Laszlo (HUN), 15-8, in the table of 32.

A London Olympian, Massialas entered the Junior Worlds as the hands-down favorite to win his second straight individual title.

After a slow start to his table of 32 victory against Damiano Rosatelli (ITA), Massialas nearly shut out Sergio Lacasta (ESP) and finished the bout with a 15-2 victory.

Massialas won his quarter-final bout, 15-11, against Sungwoon Hong (KOR) to secure his position in the medal rounds.

During the evening semis, Haiwei Chen (CHN) built a 5-1 lead at the end of the first minute of the bout. Massialas switched weapons, but the change didn’t help the American as Chen went on to win the bout, 15-9, and would go on to take gold.

Massialas’s teammates, Michael Woo (Wayne, N.J.) and Nobuo Bravo (San Francisco, Calif.), were each eliminated in the table of 32.

Woo lost in overtime to Kyosuke Matsuyama (JPN), 11-10, and Bravo lost to Yu Chen (CHN), 15-7.

Preliminary rounds for the men’s team saber and women’s team foil competitions also were held on Wednesday, but Team USA earned byes into the table of 16 which begins tomorrow for both weapons.

Visit www.fencingworldwide.com for complete results.

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

Junior Women’s Saber World Championships
1. Anna Marton (HUN)
2. Sage Palmedo (Portland, Ore.)
3. Gracie Stone (Chicago, Ill.)
3. Luca Laszlo (HUN)
5. Manon Brunet (FRA)
6. Angelika Wator (POL)
7. Young Kyoung Ji (KOR)
8. Yiqi Guo (CHN)

24. Francesca Russo (Wayne, N.Y.)

Junior Men’s Foil World Championships
1. Haiwei Chen (CHN)
2. Alexander Choupenitch (CZE)
3. Toshiya Saito (JPN)
3. Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)
5. Hanseok Lee (KOR)
6. Mark Perelmann (GER)
7. Sungwoon Hong (KOR)
8. Baptiste Mourrain (FRA)

19. Michael Woo (Wayne, N.J.)
25. Nobuo Bravo (San Francisco, Calif.)