USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – The U.S. Men’s Foil Team ended the 2015-16 World Cup circuit with a silver medal in St. Petersburg, Russia and the No. 2 ranking in the world.

Team USA’s ranking puts them behind Italy in the world standings with just the Zonal Championships remaining before the seeding is finalized for the Olympic Games in Rio.

Featuring three of the top four men’s individual fencers in the world, the American squad included all four members of the team that will compete in Rio: No. 1 Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.), No. 3 Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.), No. 4 Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and No. 9 Miles Chamley-Watson (New York City, N.Y.)

Team USA defeated Austria, 45-32, in the table of 16 and took a 45-41 win over Japan in the quarter-finals.  

The Americans won their semifinal match against Russia, the reigning Senior World silver medalists, by a score of 45-40.

In the finals, Team USA fenced Italy, the 2015 Senior World Champions, for the gold medal. The matchup would be the third for the two nations this season with Team USA winning their bronze medal final at the San Jose World Cup in October and the gold medal final at the Paris World Cup in January.

Italy came out ahead with a 45-38 win, but Team USA’s silver medal moved the Americans up to No. 2 in the world and a high likelihood that Italy and the United States will be on opposite sides of the bracket in Rio.

On Saturday, Meinhardt placed in the top eight for the fourth time in a season in which the three-time Senior World medalist also won two individual bronze medals on the circuit.

Meinhardt, who recently qualified for his third Olympic Games, won his table of 64 bout, 15-12, against 2014 Junior World medalist Toshiya Saito (JPN) and defeated 2008 Olympic Champion Benjamin Kleibrink (GER), 15-10, in the 32.

In the table of 16, Meinhardt defeated Jun Heo (KOR), 15-10. He missed the podium by two touches, however, after a 15-13 loss to Dmitry Rigin (RUS) in the quarters.

Massialas won his table of 64 bout against Andrii Pogrebniak (UKR), 15-10, but lost in the 32 to four-time Senior World Champion Andrea Baldini (ITA), 15-6.

Imboden and Chamley-Watson, both of whom fenced with Massialas and Meinhardt at the 2012 Games, were each eliminated in the table of 64 by 15-14 scores.

Imboden lost to Xiaolong Wu (CHN) and Chamley-Watson fell to 2012 Olympic silver medalist Alaaeldin Abouelkassem (EGY).

Click here to view complete individual results.

Click here to view complete team results.

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

St. Petersburg Men’s Individual Foil World Cup
1. Dmitry Zherebchenko (RUS)
2. Dmitry Rigin (RUS)
3. Andrea Baldini (ITA)
3. James Davis (GBR)
5. Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.)
6. Jeremy Cadot (FRA)
7. Erwan Le Pechoux (FRA)
8. Luca Simoncelli (ITA)

17. Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)
34. Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
39. Miles Chamley-Watson (New York City, N.Y.)

St. Petersburg Men’s Team Foil World Cup
1. Italy
2. USA
3. France
4. Russia
5. Korea
6. China
7. Japan
8. Greece