The second day of the Fencing World Championships in Kazan, Russia saw the beginning of competition in both men’s and women’s foil.

Canadian women foilists started their first day of competition with a bang, as all four women qualified for the round of 64.  Although happy with the great results, Weapon Leader Paul ApSimon still sees room for improvement. “Our primary goal was for everyone to qualify to the 64. This goal was achieved but I feel each of the girls dropped at least one bout that they should have won. If we want to ensure consistent results at this level we need to close this gap to help us move to the next level.”

While all four fencers made it through, they face stiff opposition in the round of 64. In the next round Eleanor Harvey (Hamilton, ON) will face the Russian Deriglazova currently ranked third in the world, Kelleigh Ryan (Ottawa, ON) will face the 6^th world ranked German Golubytskyi, Alanna Goldie (Calgary, AB) will face the 9^th ranked Russian Korobeynikova and Shannon Comerford (Saskatoon, SK) will face the American Prescod who is currently ranked 10^th in the world

The success of Canadian foilists continued on into the men’s event, where both Montreal’s Maximilien Van Haaster and Calgary’s Anthony Prymack moved on to the round of 64.

“With a shaky 3-3 start in the pools, Van Haaster later found his rhythm to advance to Saturday’s round of 64,” says ApSimon. Van Haaster will face the American Massialas in the next round. Prymack, who had a strong start through the pools, will face the Hong Kong fencer Yeung.

Sadly, today was the end of Individual competition in these World Championships for Etienne Lalonde-Turbide (Montreal, QC) and Eli Schenkel (Toronto, ON).

The individual foil event will continue on July 19^th  with the round of 64. Tomorrow, competition in both men’s and women’s individual epee will begin. To stay updated on the scheduling and results check out FencingWorldwide.com and to stay updated on all the Canadian fencers, check out the CFF website and Facebook page.  

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For further information, please contact:

Monika Leck, CFF Communications Intern: mdl246@cornell.edu