USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – London Olympic teammates Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.) each earned top-16 finishes at the Shanghai Grand Prix on Saturday.

Fencing in the final event of the Grand Prix season, both athletes earned valuable points towards qualification for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Exempt from pools and the preliminary rounds that were held on Friday, Prescod entered the direct elimination rounds as the 12th seed in the table of 64 and defeated Anne Sauer (GER), 15-10, in her opening bout. Prescod outscored Martyna Jelinska (POL), 11-10, in the table of 32, and drew 2013 Senior World medalist Inna Deriglazova (RUS) in the table of 16 for the third tournament in a row. Prescod kept the score close, but the Russian won the bout, 15-12, and went on to take silver – her fourth straight podium finish on the circuit this season. Prescod finished 13th – her fourth straight table of 16 or higher finish at a World Cup or Grand Prix event this season.

Ross went 4-2 in the pools on Friday and defeated Irem Aramete (TUR), 15-5, to qualify for the table of 64. Ross fenced teammate Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn.) in the 64 and took the first of two one-touch wins. Lu, who was seeded 18th after a 6-0 run in the pools, lost to Ross, 14-13. In the table of 32, Ross defeated two-time Junior World team medalist Adelina Zagidullina (RUS), 15-14. Ross fenced two-time Olympic Champion Elisa Di Francisca (ITA) in the 16, but lost the bout, 15-5.

Ross’s 16th place result is her career-best at a Grand Prix event and allows the 2015 Pan Am silver medalist to remain 14 points ahead of Prescod in the Adjusted Olympic Rankings after the first three events of the qualifying series with a maximum of two athlete spots available for Team USA’s women’s foil fencers in Rio.

Ross now sits three AOR points behind London Olympian Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.) – the six-time individual Pan Am Champion who finished 17th in Shanghai. Kiefer dominated her first bout against Flora Tran (FRA), 15-2, but lost in the 32 to Anastasia Ivanova (RUS), 15-6.

Two-time Senior World Team member Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.) finished the pools with a 3-3 record and defeated Wenying Wang (SIN), 10-7, in the preliminary table of 64. On Saturday, Massialas narrowly missed the table of 64 after a 15-14 loss to 2009 Senior World silver medalist Hee Sook Jeon (KOR).

Competition continues on Sunday with the men’s foil event where five members of Team USA will fence in the table of 64: Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.), Alex Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.), Miles Chamley-Watson (New York City, N.Y.) and David Willette (Lafayette, Calif.)

Click here to view complete results.

Shanghai Women’s Foil Grand Prix
1. Elisa Di Francisca (ITA)
2. Inna Deriglazova (RUS)
3. Ines Boubakri (TUN)
3. Alice Volpi (ITA)
5. Arianna Errigo (ITA)
6. Martina Batini (ITA)
7. Astrid Guyart (FRA)
8. Anastasia Ivanova (RUS)

13. Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
16. Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.)
17. Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.)
33. Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn.)
57. Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)
110. Caitlin Buteau (Bernardsville, N.J.)
114. Amy Jia (Houston, Texas)
123. Elyssa Kleiner (San Francisco, Calif.)
142. Xiao-Qing Tsai (Salt Lake City, Utah)