USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – The city of St. Maur, France could rapidly be moving up the list of London Olympian Lee Kiefer’s favorites as the Lexington, Ky. native followed her first individual World Cup win in 2014 with another podium finish in the city outside of Paris on Saturday.

Kiefer drew 2015 Pan American bronze medalist Isis Gimenez (VEN) in the table of 64. Fencing the Venezuelan whom Kiefer defeated in the semifinals of the 2015 Pan Am Championships, Kiefer earned her fourth win of the year against Gimenez with a 15-7 victory.

In the table of 32, Kiefer fenced a fast-paced opening period against Shiho Nishioka (JPN) where she took a 13-8 lead in the first three minutes and closed out at 15-9.

Fencing two-time Senior World team medalist Diana Yakovleva (RUS) in the table of 16, Kiefer led the bout, 6-2, at the break and scored five unanswered touches at the start of the second period. Yakovleva adjusted, cutting Kiefer’s lead to 12-8 before the American ended the bout with a 3-1 run and a 15-9 win.

Both Kiefer and her London Olympic teammate, Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.) advanced to the quarter-finals.

After advancing through the preliminary rounds on Friday, Ross drew three-time Senior World Cup individual medalist Alice Volpi (ITA) in the table of 64. While the bout remained even early in the first period with each athlete taking five touches, Ross rattle off six straight to take an 11-5 lead before ending with a  15-11 win over the 2012 Junior World Champion.

In the table of 32, Ross picked off scores against Olga Leleyko (UKR) and took a 15-8 win against Leleyko in three periods.

Ross secured both her best individual World Cup result and an upset over 2015 Senior World Champion Inna Deriglazova (RUS) in the table of 16 where broke out from a 5-5 tie to take a 15-11 win.

Kiefer’s quarter-final opponent, 2012 Olympic team bronze medalist Hee-Sook Jeon (KOR), led the bout, 5-3, early in the first period, but Kiefer answered with six straight touches to take the lead at 9-5. Jeon scored twice more and Kiefer ended the period at 12-7. In the second period, Kiefer held the Korean scoreless for a 15-7 win.

Ross and 2013 Senior World medalist Carolin Golubytskyi (GER) were called for passivity in the scoreless first period of their quarter-final bout and Golubytskyi ended the second with a 2-1 lead. In the third period, Ross picked up a touch, but Golubytskyi grew her lead to 6-2 with less than 45 seconds remaining. Ross began attacking quickly as the clock ran down, but wasn’t able to make up the gap and Golubytskyi capitalized on the situation to take the bout, 13-3.

In a rematch of their quarter-final at this event in 2014, Kiefer took on Elisa Di Francisca (ITA) – the World No. 1 and reigning Olympic Champion. Although Di Francisca held a 9-6 lead in the bout, Kiefer replied with four straight touches to set the score in her favor at 10-9. The two fencers swapped touches with Kiefer always remaining within two scores, but Di Francisca earned the final touch and the 15-14 win.

Kiefer’s podium finished allowed her to move up from seventh to fifth in the Adjusted Olympic Rankings with the top 14 in the standings at the end of March qualifying for the Rio Olympic Games.

Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.), a London Olympian and bronze medalist at the 2015 Senior Worlds, also remains safely in the top 14 of the AOR where she currently sits in sixth after placing 17th in St. Maur.

Prescod defeated Marta Lyczbinska (POL), 15-9, in the table of 64, but finished 17th after a 11-7 loss to Serena Teo (ITA).

Three-time Senior World Team member Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn.) advanced from the pools to the table of 64 where she lost her opening bout to Chiara Cini (ITA).

On Sunday, Kiefer, Prescod, Ross and two-time Senior World Team member Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.) fenced in the team event.

The Americans drew Brazil in the table of 16 and, although Team USA won six of the first eight bouts, the United States held just a two-touch lead at 35-33 going into the final bout. Fencing in the anchor role, Prescod outscored Ana Beatriz Bulcao, 8-4, to give Team USA a 43-37 win.

In the quarters, Team USA took on a dominant French team that has medaled at each of the last three Senior World Championships. Anchored by World No. 6 Ysaora Thibus, France earned a 45-33 win against the Americans.

Although Canada upset Team USA for the first time in history in the finals of the Pan Am Games in July, the U.S. team returned to its winning ways with a 39-31 victory over its Pan Am rival.

In the final match of the day, Team USA missed fifth place after a 37-33 loss to Poland.

Click here to view complete individual results.

Click here to view complete team results.

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

St. Maur Women’s Individual Foil World Cup
1. Arianna Errigo (ITA)
2. Elisa Di Francisca (ITA)
3. Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.)
3. Carolin Golubytskyi (GER)
5. Hee Sook Jeon (KOR)
6. Ysaora Thibus (FRA)
7. Larisa Korobeynikova (RUS)
8. Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.)

17. Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
35. Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn.)
66. Madison Zeiss (Culver City, Calif.)
79. Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)
83. Iman Blow (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
89. Morgan Partridge (Swansea, Mass.)
109. Stefani Deschner (Mechanicsville, Va.)
142. Jessie Laffey (Glen Ridge, N.J.)

St. Maur Women’s Team World Cup
1. Italy
2. Russia
3. France
4. Korea
5. Poland
6. USA
7. Germany
8. Canada