It was a busy weekend of competition for Canada’s foil fencers with Canadians taking part in World Cup competition.

Canada’s women’s foil athletes were in action in St. Maur, France.  Calgary native Alanna Goldie continued to have a strong start to her season with another top 16 finish in Senior World Cup competition. Goldie finished 13th in the first World Cup of the season in Cancun in October, after winning bronze at the Cancun Satellite competition earlier that week.

To get to the round of 16 in St Maur, Goldie defeated 2013 World Championship silver medalist, Ysaora Thibus from France by a score of 15-13 to move onto the round of 32.  Goldie then defeated Martyna Jelinska of Poland 15-11.  Goldie’s run to the podium stopped in the round of 16 when she faced 2012 silver medalist Inna Deriglazova from Russia, and lost 15-6 to finish in 16th position out of 148 fencers.

"The start of the competition was a little rough because I was feeling fatigued from the time change but I seemed to pull it together by the second day,” stated Goldie. “Even though I lost a tough bout to Deriglazova, it just gives me more motivation to train harder. As always, my results are impossible without those who support me and a special thanks to Paul Apsimon and Finger Food Studios."

Kelleigh Ryan (Ottawa, ON), the top Canadian ranked fencer in FIE world rankings, was eliminated by world champion Arianna Errigo in the round of 64.

In the team competition, Canada’s women’s foil team finished in 11^th place after losing a close bout to Germany 23-22 in overtime in the round of 16.  The team composed of Kelleigh Ryan, Shannon Comerford (Saskatoon, SK), Eleanor Harvey (Hamilton, ON) and Alanna Goldie defeated Japan 31-25 in the seeding round.

In other World Cup news, Canada’s men’s foil team were in action in Tokyo, Japan.  Maximilien Van Haaster (Montreal, QC) had the best result in individual competition with a 90^th place finish, however Canada’s men’s foil team continues to make strides in team competition with a 12^th place finish.  The team of Van Haaster, Anthony Prymack (Calgary, AB), Etienne Lalonde-Turbide (Montreal, QC) and Samuel Hardwicke-Brown (Edmonton, AB) lost to eventual winner Russia in the round of 16, but defeated Poland 45-40 in the seeding round to finish in 12^th place, ahead of Brazil their main competition for their zone Olympic team spot. The Canadian team finished 8^th in the first World Cup of the season in San Francisco in October.

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