Montreal, February 28, 2014 – Three of the six Canadian teams in action at the Junior and Cadet Pan Am Championships took home top honours in the team competitions, while the three others walked away with bronze medals on Wednesday and Thursday in Guatemala.

In foil fencing, the Quebecoise Ariane Bilodeau, Albertans Alanna Goldie and Jerrica Gu and the Ontarian Angela Li, as well as Quebecers François-Olivier David and Eamonn Gomez-Perales, the British Columbian Dylan French and the Ontarian Alastair Keyes struck for gold on both the women’s and men’s side.

The Junior Pan Am title in sabre went to the Canadian team consisting of Quebecers Fares Arfa, Pascal Lambert and Mathieu Nassif and the Manitoban Cameron MacKay.

In épée, bronze medals were handed out to the Canadian women’s foursome comprised of Ontarians Hannah Beach and Leonora Mackinnon and Quebecers Vanessa Lacas-Warrick and Andrée-Anne Paquet as well as the men’s team made up of Quebecer Marc-Antoine Blais-Bélanger, Ontarian Kerr Hutchinson and foil fencing gold medalists French and Keyes.

Finally in sabre, the women’s quartet of Quebecers Frédérique Bourget and Véronique Lamarre, alongside Ontarian Tatania Gayowski and Albertan Madison Thurgood finished in third place.

"Overall, it was a very successful tournament, with medals for Canada in almost every event. It was a wonderful experience for everyone involved," said Valerie Keyes, national team manager in Guatemala.

In the end, Canada came away with ten junior and cadet titles. In addition to the already impressive haul, the Canadian contingent won seven bronze medals.

Next up for the best young Canadian fencers will be the Junior and Cadet World Championships presented in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, from April 3^rd to the 12^th.

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Written by Sportcom for Canadian Fencing Federation.