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Race Imboden Wins Bronze in Torino, Earns No. 4 World Ranking

12/03/2014, 7:45am CST
By Nicole Jomantas

Torino Foil Grand Prix Bronze medalist Race Imboden. Photo Credit: Augusto Bizzi

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – London Olympian Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.) won his second medal of the new season on the World Cup circuit on Sunday with a bronze at the Torino Grand Prix in Italy.

Just three weeks after his gold medal result at the Tokyo World Cup, Imboden entered the tournament as the fifth seed and was exempt from the pools and preliminary rounds on Friday.

He opened with a 15-9 win over Tomer Or (ISR) in the table of 64 and defeated 2011 Junior World Champion Edoardo Luperi (ITA), 15-13, in the 32.

Imboden won his next two bouts by 15-9 scores against 2012 Olympic team bronze medalist Sebastian Bachmann (GER), 15-9, and Young Ki Son (KOR) to advance to the medal rounds.

Imboden fenced a close semifinal against 2004 Olympic team bronze medalist Renal Ganeev (RUS) in the semis, but lost the bout, 15-12.

Imboden’s second podium finish of the season allowed him to climb the rankings to No. 4 in the world.

Two-time Olympian Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.) and two-time Junior World Team Champion David Willette (San Francisco, Calif.) both advanced to the table of 32.

After defeating Andrzej Rzadkowski (POL), 15-14, Meinhardt lost to 2013 Senior World bronze medalist Valerio Aspromonte (ITA), 15-7, in the table of 32. Despite the loss, Meinhardt remains ranked No. 5 in the world. Meinhardt and Imboden’s world rankings make Team USA the only nation to have two fencers ranked in the top five.

Willette won his table of 64 bout over sixth seed James Davis (GBR), but lost to Richard Kruse (GBR), 15-6.

London Olympian Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.) lost in the table of 64 to 2012 Olympic silver medalist Alaaeldin Abouelkassem (EGY), 15-11.

Brian Kaneshige (Maplewood, N.J.), a 2011 Junior World Team Champion, lost to Vincent Simon (FRA), 15-12, in the table of 64.

Miles Chamley-Watson (New York City, N.Y.), a London Olympian and 2013 Senior World Champion, dropped three bouts in pools and came into the second day of competition as the 64th seed. Chamley-Watson drew 2014 Senior World silver medalist Jianfei Ma (CHN) and lost his opening round, 15-10.

The Torino Foil Grand Prix also included a women’s event in which the preliminary rounds were held on Friday and the table of 64 took place on Saturday.

London Olympian Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.) got off to a fast start with a 15-1 win in the table of 64 against Anne Sauer (GER).

Kiefer took on Jackie Dubrovich (Riverdale, N.J.), her teammate from the team that won gold at the Junior Worlds in April, in the table of 32 and won the bout, 15-7.

In the table of 16, however, Kiefer lost to Malgorzata Wojtkowiak (POL) by a touch with a 11-10 score. Kiefer’s 11th place result puts the 2011 Senior World medalist as the No. 6 women’s foil fencer in the world.

Two other members of this year’s Junior World Championship Team advanced to the table of 32.

Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn.) defeated Leyla Pirieva (RUS), 12-7, in her first DE bout. In the table of 32, Lu gave two-time reigning Senior World Champion Arianna Errigo (ITA) her closest fight of the day, but lost the bout, 15-11.

Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.) took out 10th seed Huilin Le (CHN), 15-9, in the 64 before losing to Wojtkowiak, 15-6, in the next round.

London Olympian Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.) lost her table of 64 bout to 2013 Senior World team bronze medalist Anita Blaze (FRA), 15-13.

Fencing in her first Grand Prix tournament, Jessie Laffey (Glen Ridge, N.J.) gave 2013 Senior World silver medalist Martina Batini (ITA) a solid run, but fell short of advancing with a 15-10 loss.

Click here to view men's results.

Click here to view women's results. 

Top eight and U.S. results are as follows, including athletes who placed outside the top 64 on Friday:

Torino Men’s Foil Grand Prix
1. Alexey Cheremisinov (RUS)
2. Renal Ganeev (RUS)
3. Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
3. Valerio Aspromonte (ITA)
5. Young Ki Son (KOR)
6. Maxime Pauty (FRA)
7. Jean-Paul Tony Helissey (FRA)
8. Richard Kruse (GBR)

18. Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.)
32. David Willette (San Francisco, Calif.)
34. Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)
52. Brian Kaneshige (Maplewood, N.J.)
64. Miles Chamley-Watson (New York City, N.Y.)
113. Jerry Chang (Mountain View, Calif.)
135. Matthew Branman (Villanova, Pa.)

Torino Women’s Foil Grand Prix
1. Arianna Errigo (ITA)
2. Elisa Di Francisca (ITA)
3. Anita Blaze (FRA)
3. Adelina Zagidullina (RUS)
5. Hee Sook Jeon (KOR)
6. Yulia Biryukova (RUS)
7. Gabriella Varga (HUN)
8. Malgorzata Wojtkowiak (POL)

11. Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.)
24. Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn.)
27. Jackie Dubrovich (Riverdale, N.J.)
32. Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)
47. Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.)
61. Jessie Laffey (Glen Ridge, N.J.)
106. Iman Blow (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
116. Madison Zeiss (Culver City, Calif.)

 

Tag(s): News  Jackie Dubrovich  Race Imboden  Alexander Massialas  Gerek Meinhardt  Nicole Ross  Miles Chamley-Watson  Lee Kiefer  Sabrina Massialas