USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Team USA won its first two titles medals on the Veteran World Championships in Limoges, France on Friday when Anne-Marie Walters (Parkland, Fla.) and the U.S. Men’s Saber Team each won gold.

After a difficult round of pools in the 60-69 women’s foil competition, Walters finished with a 3-3 result and the five-time Vet World medalist would face a difficult draw in the direct elimination rounds.

In the table of 32, Walters defeated Brigitte Delacour (FRA), a 2013 Vet World bronze medalist in epee, by a score of 10-6 to advance to the next round where Walters would fence her good friend and the 2014 Vet World Champion in this event, Jenette Starks-Faulkner (Middletown, Conn.) Walters won the bout, 8-6, to become the only U.S. fencer to advance to the event’s quarter-finals.

Walters defeated 2012 Vet World Champion Claire Halsted (GBR), 10-5, and won her semifinal against 2006 Vet World Champion Astrid Kircheis (GER), 6-5.

This would mark the fourth finals appearance at the Vet Worlds for Walters who won silver in 2009, 2010 and 2012. This time, she would come away with a victory, defeating 2013 Vet World Champion Marja-Liisa Tuulikki Someroja (FIN), 7-6, to win her first individual Vet World title.

Jude Offerle (Winnetka, Ill.), a 2012 Vet World silver medalist, finished 10th after a 3-3 loss on priority to Ozden Ezinler (TUR) in the table of 16.

Three-time Vet World Team member Madelon Rosenfeld (New York City, N.Y.) fenced Ezinler in the previous round, but lost the bout, 7-3.

The U.S. Men’s Saber Team entered Friday’s event with a lineup that included five athletes who won medals in the individual events, including Val Kizik (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Bill Becker (Gilbert, Ariz.) who won silver and bronze in the 50-59 event; David Seuss (Charlestown, Mass.) and Joe Streb (Columbus, Ohio) who won silver and bronze in the 60-69 competition; +70 silver medalist Larry Pinkus (Kensington, Md.) and Peter Calderon (Plainsboro, N.J.) who placed in the top eight in the +70 event.

The Americans won three straight matches in the pool rounds, defeating Great Britain, 30-17; Hungary, 30-20; and Germany, 30-19.

Team USA won its first two DE matches easily, taking victories over Hungary, 30-11, and Russia, 30-14, To advance to the gold medal final where the squad held off a late charge by Germany to win gold, 30-28.

Seventeen years after winning gold at the first ever Vet World Championships, Kaz Campe (Edgewater, Md.) took bronze in the +70 men’s epee event.

Seeded 16th out of the pools, Campe was seeded 16th in the table of 64 where he defeated Fritz Kristbergs (CAN), 10-9.

Campe qualified for the quarters with a 10-6 win against Cordt Von Brandis (NOR) and a 2-0 victory over Jean Paul Boitel (FRA).  

Campe secured a medal with a 10-7 win against Peter Valar (SUI). He ended the day with a bronze after a 9-8 loss to 2014 Vet World Champion William Osbaldeston (GBR).

First-time Vet World Team member Frank Hewitt (Jamul, Calif.) earned a top-16 finish in Limoges. Hewitt earned two DE victories over Peter Bucher (SUI) and Jean Luc Lenoir (FRA) by 10-8 and 8-7 scores respectively before losing to Valar, 10-6.

Two-time Vet World Team member Jonathan Jefferies (Alameda, Calif.) earned a bye into the 32 where he lost to Osbaldeston, 10-3.

Six-time Vet World Team member Arnold Messing (Brooklyn, N.Y.) defeated Guiseppe Cafiero (ITA), 10-6, in the 64, but lost to Raoul Blin (FRA), 10-6.

Fencing at her third Vet Worlds, Ruth Dodge (Casa Grande, Ariz.) won her first medal with a bronze in the +70 foil competition.

Dodge went undefeated in pools and earned a No. 2 seed in the table of 32 and a bye into the 16 where she defeated 2014 Vet World silver medalist Kristin Payne (GBR), 10-8. Dodge won her next bout, 5-2, over Maria Nicolosi (ITA) and finished with a bronze after a 10-8 loss to Nadejda Arskaya (RUS).

In her first bout of the day, Arskaya also defeated Team USA’s Patricia Bedrosian (Malibu, Calif.), a bronze medalist in the epee competition earlier in the week, by a 10-4 score.

After a bye into the 16, six-time Vet World Team member Diane Reckling (White Plains, N.Y.) lost her bout to four-time Vet World Team member Brigitte Greunke (GER), 10-7.

Three-time Vet World Team member Judith Evans (Greenwich, Conn.) lost to Nicole Tissier (FRA), 10-9, in the table of 32.   

In the men’s 60-69 epee event, two U.S. team members earned top-16 results. First-time team members Mark Wheeler (San Jose, Calif.) and William Gelnaw (Fullerton, Calif.) placed 11th and 14th, respectively.

After a bye into the table of 32, Wheeler defeated Thomas Merky (SUI), 10-8, bfore losing his next bout, 10-7 to Yuataka Yamazaki (JPN) – a 2013 Vet World Champion in foil who went on to win silver in the epee event.

Gelnaw won his first two bouts by single touch margin, defeating Pawel Krawczyk (POL), 3-2, in the 64 and Jean Stock (BEL), 10-9, in the 32. Gelnaw missed the quarters after a 10-4 loss to Jean Pierre Mion (FRA).

Drew Ridge (Warminster, Pa.) and Jere Bothelio (Simi Valley, Calif.), both medalists at the 2011 Vet Worlds, were each eliminated in the table of 64 where Ridge lost to Paolo D’Arcangelo (ESP), 10-7, and Bothelio fell to Konstantin Ratov (RUS), 10-9.  

Click here to view complete results.

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

Veteran World Championships Men’s 60-69 Epee
1. Jeno Pap (HUN)
2. Yuataka Yamazaki (JPN)
3. Mark Ballard (CAN)
3. Francois Gaudry (FRA)
5. Viktor Sokolov (UKR)
6. Peter Osvath (AUS)
7. Jean Pierre Mion (FRA)
8. Paul Muller (SUI)

11. Mark Wheeler (San Jose, Calif.)
14. William Gelnaw (Fullerton, Calif.)
34. Drew Ridge (Warminster, Pa.)
42. Jere Bothelio (Simi Valley, Calif.)

Veteran World Championships Women’s +70 Epee
1. Winfried Suchanek (GER)
2. William Osbaldeston (GBR)
3. Kaz Campe (Edgewater, Md.)
3. Jannis Vitsas (NED)
5. Peter Valar (SUI)
6. Joern Steffensen (DEN)
7. Volker Hrovat (AUS)
8. Alberto Beonio Brocchieri (ITA)

13. Frank Hewitt (Jamul, Calif.)
22. Jonathan Jefferies (Alameda, Calif.)
26. Arnold Messing (Brooklyn, N.Y.)

Veteran World Championships Women’s 60-69 Foil
1. Anne-Marie Walters (Parkland, Fla.)
2. Marja-Liisa Tuulikki Someroja (FIN)
3. Kaoru Amari (JPN)
3. Astrid Kircheis (GER)
5. Kerstin Palm (SWE)
6. Claire Halsted (GBR)
7. Annabelle Ballard (AUS)
8. Ozden Ezinler (TUR)

9. Jenette Starks-Faulkner (Middletown, Conn.)
10. Jude Offerle (Winnetka, Ill.)
21. Madelon Rosenfeld (New York City, N.Y.)

Veteran World Championships Women’s +70 Foil
1. Marie Chantal Demaille (FRA)
2. Nadejda Arskaya (RUS)
3. Ruth Dodge (Casa Grande, Ariz.)
3. Judith Hendricks (AUT)
5. Brigitte Greunke (GER)
6. Janet Cooksey (GBR)
7. Giulia Lorenzoni (ITA)
8. Maria Nicolosi (ITA)

11. Patricia Bedrosian (Malibu, Calif.)
14. Diane Reckling (White Plains, N.Y.)
17. Judith Evans (Greenwich, Conn.)

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