USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – The American delegation brought home four of a maximum eight medals in the men’s saber events at the Veteran World Championships on Thursday with U.S. athletes winning silver and bronze in both the 50-59 and 60-69 events in Limoges, France.

Val Kizik (Indianapolis, Ind.) won silver at the 2013 Vet Worlds in his debut at the event and advanced to the final round for a second time this year.

Kizik fenced 2013 Vet World Foil Champion Laszlo Takacsy (HUN) after a bye into the table of 32 and took the win, 10-7, before edging Godefroid Bottecchia (BEL), 10-8, to qualify for the quarters.

After another close win over Olaf Ziebell (GER) by a 10-9 score, Kizik would fence his teammate, Bill Becker (Gilbert, Ariz.) in the semis.

Becker, who qualified for his first Vet World Team in his first year of age eligibility, was coming off a 10-6 win over Mauro Numa (ITA), but couldn’t hold off Kizik who controlled their bout for a 10-6 win.

Becker would end the day with a bronze while Kizik would take home silver after a 10-7 loss to Vittorio Carrara (ITA) in a rematch of their 2013 final. Carrara’s gold medal win would mark the fifth Vet World title for the Italian.  

Four-time Vet World Dmitri Kopylov (Roseland, N.J.) was seeded second out of the pools and won his first bout, 10-1, against Pedro Carnicer (ESP), but fell to Numa, 10-7, in the 16. Numa also defeated Kopylov’s teammate, Chris Matt (Arlington, Va.), 10-5, in the previous round.

David Seuss (Charlestown, Mass.) won gold as a 60-69 saber fencer in 2013 and entered the 2015 Vet Worlds having medaled at every year’s edition of the event since winning bronze in 2011.

Seuss finished 5-1 in the pools and entered the DEs as the fourth seed behind teammate and two-time Vet World Team member Joe Streb (Columbus, Ohio) who went undefeated to take the No. 3 position in the rankings.

After a bye into the table of 32, Seuss defeated a pair of Venezuelan fencers, besting Antonio Melo and Alfredo Ovalles by 10-5 and 10-7 scores, respectively, to advance to the quarters where he won his bout against Sergei Slonov (RUS), 10-2.

Streb also qualified for the medal rounds after a trio of wins where he defeated Bart Klootwijk (NED), 10-2; 2010 Vet World medalist Ricardo Carmina (ITA), 10-8; and Chris Prevett (GBR), 10-6.

In the semis, Streb lost his bout against two-time Vet World medalist Enrico Antinoro (ITA), 10-3, and finished the tournament with his third career medal after winning a silver in 2012 and a bronze in 2012.

Seuss outscored Eric Loiseau (FRA), 10-9, in the semis to advance to the gold medal final where he lost his bout against Antinoro, 10-4.   

In the women’s 50-59 foil competition, Ursula Szpak (Trophy Club, Texas) advanced to the quarter-finals for the fourth straight year, placing sixth.

Szpak finished the pool rounds as the ninth seed and earned a bye into the table of 32. Szpak won her first two DEs by 10-8 scores against Masayo Toeda (JPN) and Karla Seeliger (GER) to advance to the quarters where she lost, 10-3, to Stefanie Reese (GER) who won her second Vet World bronze.

Three-time Vet World Team member Kristin Vines (Hixson, Tenn.) defeated her teammate, Lynn Botelho (Indiana, Pa.), 10-8, in the 32, but lost to Reese, 10-1, in the 16.

Fencing at her first Vet Worlds, Bonnie Hennig (Simsbury, Conn.) lost to Jenny Bonney-Millett (GBR), 10-6, in the table of 32.

In the team competitions, the U.S. Women’s Epee Team finished fourth and the U.S. Men’s Foil Team placed sixth.

Team USA split its pool matches, 1-1, with a 30-25 win against Great Britain and a 30-25 loss to Germany to earn the fifth seed in the quarter-finals.

The Americans would fence both teams again in the direct elimination rounds with similar results, besting Great Britain, 30-25, in the quarters and falling to Germany, 45-36, in the semis.

In the bronze medal match, Team USA missed the podium by four touches after a 30-26 loss to Finland.

The U.S. Men’s Foil Team also split its pool results, defeating Canada, 27-15, but falling to Germany, 30-14.

Team USA drew a bye into the quarters, but lost to Hungary, 26-22, and finished sixth overall.

Click here to view complete results.

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

Veteran World Championships Women’s 50-59 Foil
1. Laurence Vallet-Modaine (FRA)
2. Ludmila Chernova (RUS)
3. Britta Hilgers (GER)
3. Stefanie Reese (GER)
5. Magda Melandri (ITA)
6. Ursula Szpak (Trophy Club, Texas)
7. Mieke De Graaf-Stoel (NED)
8. Gillian Worman (GBR)

13. Kristin Vines (Hixson, Tenn.)
22. Lynn Botelho (Indiana, Pa.)
29. Bonnie Hennig (Simsbury, Conn.)

Veteran Worlds Men’s 50-59 Saber
1. Vittorio Carrara (ITA)
2. Val Kizik (Indianapolis, Ind.)
3. Didier Asselin (FRA)
3. Bill Becker (Gilbert, Ariz.)
3. Konstantin Volkov (RUS)
6. Marco Numa (ITA)
7. Geza Kas (FRA)
8. Olaf Ziebell (GER)

9. Dmitri Kopylov (Roseland, N.J.)
23. Chris Matt (Arlington, Va.)

Veteran World Championships Men’s 60-69 Saber
1. Enrico Antinoro (ITA)
2. David Seuss (Charlestown, Mass.)
3. Eric Loiseau (FRA)
3. Joseph Streb (Columbus, Ohio)
5. Giulio Paroli (ITA)
6. Frederic Reynen (FRA)
7. Sergei Slonov (RUS)
8. Christ Prevett (GBR)

10. Wang Yung (Woolwich Township, N.J.)
11. Ted Smith (Placerville, Calif.)

Veteran World Championships Men’s Team Foil
1. Great Britain
2. Germany
3. Russia
4. Hungary
5. Italy
6. USA
7. Japan
8. France