USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Sage Palmedo (Portland, Ore.) won her third Junior World Cup title of the season on Saturday in Dourdan, France – becoming the first saber fencer to win three golds on the junior circuit since two-time Olympic Champion Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.) accomplished the same feat in 2004.  

Palmedo dropped two 5-4 bouts in the pools and came into the table of 64 as the 29th seed, but still held her first opponent to a handful of touches as she defeated Tania Arrayales (MEX), 15-8.

After a 15-12 win against 2014 Junior World team silver medalist Margaux Rifkiss (FRA), Palmedo held off Mirabella Kelecsenyi (HUN) for a 15-14 victory in the table of 16.

Beginning in the quarter-finals, Palmedo would need to defeat three straight Russian opponents to claim gold.

Palmedo took her first two victories by 15-13 scores against Anastasiya Kochetova and Svetlana Sheveleva to qualify for the gold medal final against Valeria Bolshakova.

Up by a touch at the break, 8-7, Bolshakova took a 10-8 lead in the second before Palmedo fought back with four straight touches and a 7-1 run to win the bout, 15-11.

Two U.S. cadet fencers advanced to the table of 32 and tightened the race for the 2015 Cadet World Team.

Maia Chamberlain (Menlo Park, Calif.) finished 20th and 2014 Cadet World Team member Sarah Merza (Wayne, N.J.) placed 21st.

Chamberlain’s result allowed her to climb the national team rankings to No. 5 while Merza leapfrogged Chloe Fox-Gitomer (Portland, Ore.) and 2014 Cadet World Team member Violet Michel (Cambridge, Mass.) to move into the No. 1 position in the domestic cadet standings.

On Sunday, Palmedo, Merza, Michel and Regina O’Brien (Wellesley, Mass.) placed sixth in the team competition.

The Americans earned a bye into the quarter-finals, but lost to Germany, 45-41, in their first match of the day.

After a 45-42 win over Russia, Team USA lost to Mexico, 45-40, in the match for fifth place.

Click here to view complete individual results.   

Click here to view complete team results.

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

Dourdan Individual Saber Junior World Cup
1. Sage Palmedo (Portland, Ore.)
2. Valeria Bolshakova (RUS)
3. Anna Bashta (RUS)
3. Svetlana Sheveleva (RUS)
5. Anastasiya Kochetova (RUS)
6. Eloisa Passaro (ITA)
7. Ekaterina Vorobyeva (RUS)
8. Haruna Sasaki (JPN)

20. Maia Chamberlain (Menlo Park, Calif.)
27. Sarah Merza (Wayne, N.J.)
33. Regina O’Brien (Wellesley, Mass.)
36. Violet Michel (Cambridge, Mass.)
39. Lena Johnson (Peachtree City, Ga.)
55. Marta Lasota (Silver Spring, Md.)
63. Gabrielle Tartakovsky (Livingston, N.J.)
64. Lindsay Sapienza (Bardonia, N.Y.)
83. Rachel Aho (Wellesley, Mass.)
87. Kara Linder (Chandler, Ariz.)
104. Galen Cadley (New York City, N.Y.)

Dourdan Team Saber Junior World Cup
1. France
2. Hungary
3. Italy
4. Germany
5. Mexico
6. USA
7. Russia
8. Japan