USA Fencing

(Rio de Janeiro) – With the individual fencing competitions complete, the U.S. Olympic Fencing Team will have three more opportunities to earn medals in the team competitions taking place Aug. 11-13 at Carioca Arena 3.

The Americans do not have a men’s epee entry into the final day of the team competition.

The following is a preview of each day's action (All times local / Eastern +1). (Note: Countries are listed by seed below, not world ranking).

Women's Epee: Thursday, Aug. 11
First bout for Team USA

Quarterfinals
10:30 a.m.
Yellow: No. 7 USA vs. No. 2 Romania

Live Stream

1:15 p.m.
Semifinals

5 p.m. 
Bronze Medal Final

6:30 p.m.
Gold Medal Final

Team USA will attempt to repeat its performance from four years ago at the London Olympics when the women’s epee team came up with the upset over Russia to earn a bronze medal.

Two of the members from 2012 remain the same in Courtney and Kelley Hurley (San Antonio, Texas). In fact, it was Courtney who scored the sudden death touch as anchor to give the U.S. the victory and she has remained in that role throughout the quadrennium, leading Team USA to two World Cup medals this season. The sisters will team up with first-time Olympian Kat Holmes (Washington, D.C.) All three look to redeem individual Round of 32 defeats, in which Holmes and Courtney Hurley lost in overtime.

Katarzyna Trzopeak (Redwood City, Calif.), a member of the team that won the 2015 Pan American Games, will be joining the squad as the replacement athlete.

Most recently in June, the USA women’s team won silver at the Pan American Games. This season, they also have two third-place finishes at the Nanjing and Legnano World Cups.

Ana Maria Brânză (ROU) went the furthest individually for the Romanians, falling in the round of 16. As a team, Romania has placed third or better in four of their last six team competitions this season, including a first-place finish at the Buenos Aires World Cup in February.

The two teams have faced each other twice this year with Romania winning both matches at the Barcelona and Buenos Aires World Cups, respectively.

China is currently ranked No. 1 in the world, followed by Romania and Russia.

Men's Foil: Friday, Aug. 12
First bout for Team USA

Quarterfinals
9 a.m.
Yellow: No.2 USA vs. No. 7 Egypt

Live Stream

12 p.m.
Semifinals

5 p.m. 
Bronze Medal Final

6:30 p.m.
Gold Medal Final

A favorite for a team medal in Rio, the U.S. men’s foil team has already brought home three team gold medals this season and finished with a third-place result or better in five of its six tournaments. Team USA is seeded No. 2 in the bracket, behind only No. 1 Italy.

The Americans look to build on the individual performance of Alex Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.), who became the first U.S. man since 1932 to win an individual silver medal on Sunday. In the quarterfinals, Massialas showed why he is the current No.1 ranked fencer in the world, coming back from a 14-8 deficit to defeat 2012 Olympic Team Champion Giorgio Avola (ITA) 15-14. He then defeated Richard Kruse (GBR) in the semis before falling to Daniele Garozzo (ITA) in the gold medal bout.

Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.) just missed the medal rounds with a 15-13 loss to Kruse in the quarters while Miles Chamley-Watson (New York City, N.Y.) lost in the round of 32,. Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.), a 2012 Olympian and the 2014-15 Overall World Cup Champion, will also be available for Team USA as the replacement athlete.

Individually, Egypt had just one athlete get past the round of 32 as 2012 Olympic silver medalist Alaaeldin Abouelkassem (EGY) fell to eventual gold medalist Garozzo in the 16. As a team this season, the Egyptians have just one finish better than ninth place, taking first at the African Championships in April.

The Americans will be on the opposite side of the bracket from Italy – the reigning World and Olympic Champions who Team USA defeated for medals in San Jose and Paris this season. First Team USA must get past the semis, however, where Team USA could face Russia, a team that defeated Italy to win Europeans in June, or Great Britain whose team includes Kruse as well as World No. 6 James Davis.

Women's Saber: Saturday, Aug. 13
First bout for Team USA

Quarterfinals
9 a.m.
Red: No. 4 USA vs. No. 5 Poland

Live Stream

11:30 a.m.
Semifinals

5 p.m. 
Bronze Medal Final

6:15 p.m.
Gold Medal Final

Team USA enters the women’s team saber competition on a mission for a medal. The U.S. women’s saber team won the World Championships in 2014 and have medalled every year since 2011. The Americans also took gold at the Pan American Championships less than two months ago. Both the 2014 and 2015 USA World Championship Teams included the three athletes that competed in the individual competition in Rio: Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.), Ibtihaj Muhammad (Maplewood N.J.) and Dagmara Wozniak (Avenal, N.J.).

Zagunis, a two-time Olympic gold medalist who was considered a medal contender as an individual, and Muhammad, the first American woman to compete in the Olympics in a hijab, both finished in the top 16 Tuesday in the individual competition. Wozniak came up just short in the table of 32.

Serving as the replacement athlete, Monica Aksamit (Matawan, N.J.) is a two-time Pan American Team Champion.

As of late, team competitions with Poland have been close, with the Polish holding the 2-1 advantage in World Cup competitions this season. The most recent matchup at the Foshan World Cup saw just a three-point victory for Poland. The Americans last won 45-39 at the Orleans World Cup in November of 2015.

Poland did not have an athlete advance past the round of 16 as Małgorzata Kozaczuk (POL) fell to Azza Besbes (TUN) 15-12.

Russia, Ukraine and France earned the top three seeds of the tournament. Russia’s lineup will include two medalists from this Games – Champion Yana Egorian and silver medalist Sofya Velikaya while Ukraine’s anchor, Olga Kharlan will be seeking to add a team gold to the individual bronzes she won in London and Rio.