April 19, 2015 – Canada is off to a good start at the 2015 Senior Pan Am Fencing Championships currently underway in Santiago, Chile.  These zone championships are an important event in the Olympic qualification process for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and will qualify athletes for nomination for the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto.

The first day of competition kicked off with Individual Women’s Epee and Individual Men’s Foil in action.  Leonora Mackinnon, a Canadian who is living in Great Britain, led the charge on the day, earning a bronze medal in women’s epee. 

 “My goal for the day was to qualify for the Pan Am Games but my result has put me in a good position for the upcoming Olympic Games,” stated Mackinnon. “I am excited for the qualifying season.”

Added Women’s Epee National Program Coach David Howes: “I'm very happy for Leo's result today. She's worked hard to come back from her season ending ankle injury after winning gold at the 2014 Junior Pan Ams and had her best ever performance at the right time. Leo's medal plus our two top 16’s are a good indication of how much the Women's Epee program is improving.”

Alexis Rudkovska (Toronto, ON) was eliminated in the round of 8 by her Canadian teammate MacKinnon and Malinka Hoppe (Montreal, QC) finished top 8 after losing to third seed Lizzie Asis from Venezuela.

Maximilien Van Haaster (Montreal) had Canada’s top finish in Individual Men’s Foil.  Van Haaster was leading 13-8 in his round of 8 bout against Race Imboden from the USA, who is currently ranked second in the FIE World rankings.  Imboden unfortunately managed to launch a comeback and defeated Van Haaster 15-13 to give Van Haaster a top 8 finish while Imboden went on to win gold.  Both Eli Schenkel and Anthony Prymack lost in the round of 16.

Competition continues today with Individual Men’s Epee and Women’s Sabre in action.  Please visit the CFF Facebook page and twitter for updates from Santiago. Please note that results are currently not available through the event organizers and the venue has limited internet, however staff onsite will post updates as much as possible.

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