The future looks bright for Canadian fencing following the results of the 2014 Junior/Cadet World Championships which took place April 3-12, 2014 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

For the first time in a long time, Canada came away with two medals.  Dylan French (Vancouver, BC) won a bronze medal in Cadet Men's Epee, while Eleanor Harvey (Hamilton, ON) won silver in Junior Women's Foil.  Both athletes put in outstanding performances to reach the podium by defeating top ranked fencers.  To advance to the semi-finals, Harvey defeated number one world ranked fencer, Camilla Mancini in the quarter-finals by a score of 15-11.  Eleanor Harvey will start the new season as the number one world ranked Junior Women’s foil athlete.

Sixteen year old Dylan French also competed in Junior Men’s Epee, finishing just out of the medal round in 5^th place in a competition that featured 172 competitors. Along the way, French defeated the 2013-14 junior number one internationally ranked and 2013 Junior World Championships silver medallist, Yulen Pereira from Spain. 

Canada also had a number of excellent performances in the team events.  The junior men’s saber team of Farès Arfa (Laval, QC), Pascal Lambert (Epiphanie, QC) and Shaul Gordon (Vancouver) finished just off the podium in the team competition in fourth place, after defeating among others, the Ukraine whose roster included several International medallists. 

Another top 8 performance included the junior women’s foil team of Alanna Goldie (Calgary), Jerrica Gu (Edmonton), and Eleanor Harvey (Hamilton) who defeated Team Germany 45-37 but then lost to Team Russia who were the competition favourites, to finish in eighth place.

Other notable results include the Junior Men’s Epee Team who finished 9^th, the Junior Women’s Sabre team who finished 12^th and Cadet Women’s Foil athlete Jenny Zhao (Ottawa) who finished 11^th and qualified for the Youth Olympic Games along with Dylan French for Men’s Epee. Canada finished the 2014 Junior World Championships with a nation ranking of 10^th out of 71 countries.

The 2014 Junior World Championships caps off a great season that saw Canadian junior athletes win medals in World Cup competition and at NCAA Championships, in addition to the Junior World Championships.

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