USA Fencing

(Moscow, Russia) – Team USA will have three fencers on the men’s and women’s podiums tonight at the Senior World Championships in Moscow.

For the first time in history, two U.S. men will stand together on the Senior World podium as London Olympians Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.) and Alex Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.) each advanced to the semifinals.

Meinhardt will fence 2013 Senior World silver medalist Artur Akhmatkuhzin (RUS) and Massialas will take on 2008 Olympic silver medalist Yuki Ota (JPN).

The medal will be Meinhardt’s third at the Senior Worlds after winning individual bronze in 2010 and team silver in 2013. A Junior World Champion in 2013, Massialas also was on the silver-medal winning Senior World squad in 2013 and this will be his first Senior World individual medal.

Meinhardt defeated five-time Senior World Champion Peter Joppich (GER), 15-10, in the quarter-finals and Massialas won his quarter bout against Laurence Halsted (GBR), 15-12.

Just two U.S. men, Meinhardt and 2013 Senior World Champion Miles Chamley-Watson (New York City, N.Y.), have won individual foil medals at the Senior Worlds.

London Olympian Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.) defeated two-time Olympic Champion and World No. 1 Elisa DiFrancisca (ITA), 15-14, in the quarter-finals and will fence 2009 Senior World Champion Aida Shanaeva (RUS) in the semis.

Prescod will join her London teammate Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.) in the record books, following Kiefer’s 2011 Senior World bronze medal win to become the second U.S. woman in history to win an individual Senior World medal in foil. Prescod also will become the first African American woman ever to win an individual medal at the Senior World Championships.

Kiefer also advanced to the top eight, but lost in the quarters to 2013 Senior World medalist Inna Deriglazova (RUS).

The medal rounds begin at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time and can be watched live on www.universalsports.com.