USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – The U.S. Men’s Epee Team had one of its most successful outings in history on the Cadet European Cup circuit this weekend with two individual and two team medal wins in Espoo, Finland.  

Fencing in the individual event, Isaac Shelanski (Washington, D.C.) won gold and Jonathan Piskovatskov (Houston, Texas) took bronze on Saturday.

Both fencers went 5-1 in the pools and earned byes into the table of 64 where Shelanksi qualified for his first international table of 32 bout with a 15-8 win against Anton Darashkou (ROU) and Piskovatskov defeated Paul-Philipp Pyschik (GER), 15-9.

Shelanski and Piskovatskov were joined in the table of 32 by 16 of their U.S. teammates as 18 of Team USA’s 19 entrants into the competition all earned top-32 results.

In the 32, both Shelanski and Piskovatskov won bouts against Belarussian fencers with Shelanski edging Bahdan Pantsialeyeu, 15-14, and Piskovatskov taking a 15-11 victory over Pavel Mikhalkou.

With the table of 16 including 12 U.S. fencers, four all-American matchups would be held, including Shelanski’s win against Bryce Bogert (St. Augustine, Fla.), 15-9, and Piskovatskov’s defeat of 2014 Cadet World Team member Charlie Horowitz (Los Angeles, Calif.), 15-11.

Only three countries sent fencers to the quarter-finals with five Americans advancing alongside two Estonians and a Latvian.

Shelanksi defeated teammate Joshua Wolkoff (Boston, Mass.), 15-11, and Piskovatskov bested Jack Bradford (Erie, Colo.), 15-7. Mick Yamanaka (Floral Park, N.Y.) also qualified for the top eight, but lost his bout against Andzhei Gedzo (EST), 15-7.

With two medals secured, Shelanski and Piskovatskov would fence each other in the semis with Shelanski dominating the bout for a 15-6 victory and Piskovatskov taking home his second career Cadet European Cup medal after placing second in Chalons two years ago.

The gold medal final came down to the last touch with Shelanski defeating Gedzo, 15-14, to win his first international title.

Team USA entered four squads in the team event where the Americans placed all four in the top five and won silver and bronze medals.

Piskovatskov and Bradford fenced on USA 1 with teammates Robin Cheong (San Antonio, Texas) and Stephen Ewart (Lancaster, Calif.) As the top seeded team in the tournament, USA 1 earned a bye into the quarter-finals where the Americans defeated Belarus, 45-37.

In the semifinals, USA 1 earned a 45-42 win against USA 2’s team of Bogert, Dylan Kim (Marietta, Ga.),  Wesley Yuan (Princeton Junction, N.Y.) and Nicolas Wilson (Houston, Texas).

USA 1 fenced a close bout in the finals against Estonia, but lost the match, 45-44.

The bronze medal final would be another all-American match with USA 2 taking on the USA 4 team of Shelanski, Sean Wilson (Houston, Texas), Ulfric Crouse (Conroe, Texas) and Gabriel Bronfman (Orinda, Calif.)

Shelanski’s USA 4 squad took the win and secured Team USA’s fourth medal of the weekend.

Click here to view complete results.

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

Espoo Individual Epee Cadet European Cup
1. Isaac Shelanski (Washington, D.C.)
2. Andzhei Gedzo (EST)
3. Ruslan Esko (EST)
3. Jonathan Piskovatskov (Houston, Texas)
5. Jack Bradford (Erie, Colo.)
6. Mick Yamanaka (Floral Park, N.Y.)
7. Joshua Wolkoff (Boston, Mass.)
8. Egils Vasaraudzis (LAT)

9. Bryce Bogert (St. Augustine, Fla.)
10. Stephen Ewart (Lancaster, Calif.)
11. Charlie Horowitz (Los Angeles, Calif.)
12. Sean Wilson (Houston, Texas)
13. Elias Cole (Chappaqua, N.Y.)
15. Adrien Thein-Sandler (Topanga, Calif.)
16. Ulfric Crouse (Conroe, Texas)
17. Robin Cheong (San Antonio, Texas)
19. Nicolas Wilson (Houston, Texas)
21. Dylan Kim (Marietta, Ga.)
22. Gabriel Bronfman (Orinda, Calif.)
23. Tiger Gao (Manhasset, N.Y.)
27. Wesley Yuan (Princeton Junction, N.Y.)
69. Aidan Antekeier (Houston, Texas)

Espoo Team Epee Cadet European Cup
1. Estonia
2. USA 1
3. USA 4
4. USA 2
5. USA 3
6. Norway
7. Belarus
8. Norway 2