USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Team USA’s saber fencers won a trio of medals at the Konin Saber Cadet European Cup in Poland over the weekend.

As one of the youngest athletes in the tournament, 14-year-old Kara Linder (Chandler, Ariz.) had a difficult first pool round on Friday in which she won two of her six bouts, but came back in the second round where she went undefeated. Linder gave up just three touches to her six opponents and earned the top seed in the table of 64.

Linder continued to dominate her opponents in the table of 64 on Saturday as she held each of her challengers to single digits with wins over Olena Pysarenko (UKR), 15-8; Laura Fidanzi (ITA), 15-7; and 2014 Cadet European Team Championships medalist Bianka Kern (HUN), 15-6.

Although 14-year-olds Martha Merriam (Tenafly, N.J.) and Chloe Fox-Gitomer (Portland, Ore.) were both competing for the first time on the Cadet European circuit, both athletes advanced to the quarter-finals alongside Linder.

Linder fenced Merriam and won the bout, 15-12, but Fox-Gitomer lost to Lucia Lucarini (ITA), 15-13.

Linder won a close bout over Olga Nikitina (RUS), 15-13, in the semifinals and went on to defeat Lucarini, 15-8, for gold.

On the men’s side, 15-year-old Andrew Doddo (South Orange, N.J.) won his first Cadet European Cup medal with a silver in his second season on the circuit.

Doddo won 12 straight pool bouts on Friday to earn the fourth seed in the table of 64 on Saturday.

After a 15-10 win over Oleksandr Yatsyuk (UKR), Doddo took his next two victories by 15-5 scores over Akos Morvai (HUN) and Igor Ignatov (RUS).

Doddo drew 16-year-old Samuel Kwong (Los Altos Hills, Calif.) in the quarters and won the bout, 15-7.

Doddo narrowly missed out on an all-American semifinal when his 15-year-old Andrew Sun (Alpharetta, Ga.) lost in the quarters to 2014 Cadet World medalist Konstantin Lokhanov (RUS), 15-9.

With a medal secured, Doddo defeated Lokhanov, 15-12, in the semis. Doddo finished the tournament with a silver medal after a 15-8 loss to Anatoliy Kostenko (RUS).

On Sunday, Team USA fenced in the women’s team event where Fox-Gitomer, Alicja Tomaszewski (Morris Plains, N.J.) and Lauren Kim (Plano, Texas) brought home the bronze.

Fox-Gitomer anchored the squad to a 45-14 win in the table of 16 over Gim 6 Konin and defeated Russia 6, 45-28.

Team USA rebounded from the loss with a 45-35 victory against Russia 3 in the bronze medal final.

Click here to view complete women’s individual results.

Click here to view complete men’s individual results.

Click here to view complete women’s team results.

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

Konin Women’s Individual Saber Cadet European Cup
1. Kara Linder (Chandler, Ariz.)
2. Lucia Lucarini (ITA)
3. Alina Mikhailova (RUS)
3. Olga Nikitina (RUS)
5. Chloe Fox-Gitomer (Portland, Ore.)
6. Martha Merriam (Tenafly, N.J.)
7. Maria Trofimova (RUS)
8. Evgenia Podpaskova (RUS)

9. Violet Michel (Cambridge, Mass.)
10. Maia Chamberlain (Menlo Park, Calif.)
11. Casey Chan (Cresskill, N.J.)
14. Elizabeth Tartakovsky (Livingston, N.J.)
15. Miranda Gieg (Sudbury, Mass.)
18. Victoria Zhang (Carmichael, Calif.)
23. Marigot Fackenthall (Carmichael, Calif.)
26. Jessica Whang (Westfield, N.J.)
27. Sarah Merza (Wayne, N.J.)
28. Lark Izenson (Atlanta, Ga.)
29. Daniela Timofeyev (Antelope, Calif.)
30. Marta Lasota (Silver Spring, Md.)
37. Gabrielle Zegers (Granite Bay, Calif.)
42. Alicja Tomaszewski (Morris Plains, N.J.)
44. Galen Cadley (New York, N.Y.)
49. Rose Adams (Sacramento, Calif.)
55. Lauren Kim (Plano, Texas)

Konin Men’s Individual Saber Cadet European Cup
1. Anatoliy Kostenko (RUS)
2. Andrew Doddo (South Orange, N.J.)
3. Konstantin Lokhanov (RUS)
3. Mark Stepanov (RUS)
5. Samuel Kwong (Los Altos Hills, Calif.)
6. Vladislav Pozdniakov (RUS)
7. Andrew Sun (Alpharetta, Ga.)
8. Borys Melnik (UKR)

10. Inti Farfan-Bayerl (Morrison, Colo.)
11. Philippe Guy (San Diego, Calif.)
16. Dawson Sieradzky (Wayne, N.J.)
18. Christian Fernandes (Atlanta, Ga.)
21. Edward Cai (Marietta, Ga.)
22. Eric Pei (Saratoga, Calif.)
25. Christopher Walker (Atlanta, Ga.)
26. Matthew Chen (Monmouth Junction, N.J.)
35. Edward Zhao (Potomac, Md.)
36. Evin Heintz (Pearland, Texas)
39. Nicholas No (Carmichael, Calif.)
40. PJ Tuckman (New York, N.Y.)
46. Adam Green (Chevy Chase, Md.)
47. Daniel Ibeling (Maple Grove, Minn.)
48. Josef Cohen (Barrington, R.I.)
51. Zachary Johnson (Lake Oswego, Ore.)
64. Mitchell So (Dallas, Texas)

Konin Women’s Team Saber Cadet European Cup
1. Russia 1
2. Russia 2
3. USA
4. Russia 3
5. Russia 6
6. Polska I
7. Ukraine II
8. Polska 2000