USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – With the Rio Olympic Games less than a year away, more than 300 saber fencers will travel from at least 30 nations to compete in the Absolute Fencing Gear® FIE Grand Prix Boston this weekend. 

The two-day tournament will be held at Harvard University’s Gordon Indoor Track, 65 North Harvard St. Competition on Saturday, Dec. 12 will include the pools and preliminary rounds while the table of 64 and final medal rounds will be held on Sunday, Dec. 13.

Tickets are available at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2432101 with prices beginning at $8. Admission is free for children ages five and under. 

The Grand Prix is part of a nine-city series held by the Federation Internationale d’Escrime and will feature the best sabre fencers in the world as the only Grand Prix to be held in the United States and the only sabre Grand Prix to be held in either North or South America. 

Nearly all of the world’s 2016 Olympic hopefuls will be in attendance with all of the individual World and Olympic Champions since London expected to compete in Boston, including:

• Jiyeon Kim (KOR), 2012 Olympic Champion and 2013 Senior World bronze medalist
• Aron Szilagyi (HUN), 2012 Olympic Champion and 2013 Senior World bronze medalist
• Sofya Velikaya (RUS), 2015 and 2011 Senior World Champion and 2012 Olympic silver medalist
• Alexey Yakimenko (RUS), 2015 Senior World Champion and two-time individual Senior World bronze medalist
• Olga Kharlan (UKR), 2013 and 2014 Senior World Champion and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist
• Nikolay Kovalev (RUS), 2014 Senior World Champion and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist
• Veniamin Reshetnikov (RUS), 2013 Senior World Champion and 2010 Senior World bronze medalist

Team USA will include at least 20 men and 20 women with a strong lineup that is highlighted by six athletes who have won medals on either the Olympic or Senior World Championship stage:

• Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.), two-time Olympic Champion and five-time Senior World Champion
• Daryl Homer (Bronx, N.Y.), 2015 Senior World individual silver medalist and 2012 Olympian
• Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J.), 2014 Senior World Team Champion and 2012 Olympian
• Ibtihaj Muhammad (Maplewood, N.J.), 2014 Senior World Team Champion
• Eliza Stone (Chicago, Ill.), 2014 Senior World Team Champion
• Daria Schneider (New York City, N.Y.), two-time Senior World bronze medalist

Click here to view a complete entrants list. 

As Harvard University is one of the top NCAA fencing programs in the nation, at least three Harvard fencers will be chasing their Olympic dreams at the Grand Prix.

Representing Team USA, Eli Dershwitz (Sherborn, Mass.) and Adrienne Jarocki (Middle Village, N.Y.) have both won NCAA Championship medals for the Crimson as well as Junior World Championship titles for Team USA.

Dershwitz, who is ranked No. 2 in the United States and is a top contender for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team, won three international titles this year alone, taking gold at the Junior World Championships, the Pan American Championships and the Pan American Games. As a freshman in 2015, Dershwitz won bronze at the NCAAs and is currently taking this year off from Harvard to train for Rio.

A former ballroom dancer and Miss New York Preteen, Jarocki traded in her dancing shoes for a saber at the age of 14 and, within four years, won both the individual silver and team gold at the 2013 Junior World Championships. Jarocki made her mark quickly at Harvard as well, winning the NCAA title as a freshman in 2014 and taking bronze in 2015.

A three-time British National Champion, Aliya Itzkowitz is one of 12 fencers representing Great Britain at the Grand Prix. The Harvard senior is a three-time All-American who won silver at the 2014 NCAA Championships.

Media credentials are available for both days of the competition. Click here to submit your application.

Competition schedule is as follows:

Saturday, Dec. 12  
9 a.m. - Women's Sabre start of the pools to qualification table 
2 p.m. - Men's Sabre start of the pools to qualification tabl

Sunday, Dec. 13
9 a.m. - Direct Elimination table of 64 Women's Sabre 
1:40 p.m. - Direct Elimination table of 64 Men Sabre 
7:30 p.m. - Start of the semifinals Women's and Men's Sabre