Montreal, June 17, 2013 – Quebec Épéeist Hugues Boisvert-Simard stepped onto the podium for a silver medal, while Alberta’s Alanna Goldie snapped up a bronze, Sunday at the Pan-American Championships in Cartagena, Columbia.

The only Canadian in the final, Boisvert-Simard – currently ranked 35th internationally – defeated Cuba’s Quintero Alvarez in the semi-final with a score of 15-11 points. “It was a solid match, he was very active and explosive with his movements” commented Boisvert-Simard, who clearly was unaffected by the 43 degree Celsius heat that day.

In the final, the 31 year-old Canadian faced Venezuela’s Silvio Fernandez, ranked 5th internationally; unable to cause an upset, the former was beaten 15-10. “I had a bad start and he was really on his game, he destroyed everybody today!” Boisvert-Simard exclaimed.

After the first period, the Quebec native was behind by 1-6, but then battled back to a 7-10 score, “I’m disappointed to have the bout start so badly, since it was the most important one – it would have been great to earn the title.”

Fifth at the 2012 Pan-American Championships, Boisvert-Simard nonetheless earned his best results at this year’s competition, “Twice previously I’ve earned third place, but never second,” commented the athlete who won also won five of six round-robin matches.

In the aforementioned competitions, Boisvert-Simard was matched with Argentina’s Jose Felix Dominiguez, “He was the one that beat me, and I’ve always had difficulty defeating him, actually. He took the lead 5-2, then 10-8, but I was able to come back to 11-11 and then finally went on to win 15-12. I had a strong tableau, and that match (against Dominiguez) was the hardest one prior to the semi-finals, and I almost lost it… In the end though, the day turned around quite nicely!” analyzed the Canadian who defeated Panama’s Arturo Isaac Dorati Ameglio 15-10 and Venezuela’s Kelvin Canas 15-10 to reach the semi-final round.

Also taking up their swords today were Quebec’s Vincent Pelletier, Marc-Antoine Blais-Bélanger and Maxime Brinck-Croteau who earned 10th, 19th, and 30th, respectively.

In foil competitions, Alanna Goldie, 42nd according to the International Fencing Federation (FIE), was the highest-ranking Canadian. The Calgary resident first won her bout against Argentina’s Alejandra-A. Carbone in the Rounds of 16, then crossed swords with American Nicole Ross (23rd internationally). The semi-finals saw Goldie face American Nzingha Prescod who put an end to the Canadian’s day with a score of 15-6; the latter being ranked eighth internationally. In an all-American final, Prescod went on to defeat Lee Kiefer with a score of 15-14, successfully defending her Pan-American Championship title.

Other Canadians in action were Ontario’s Eleanor Harvey who finished ninth, Saskatchewan’s Shannon Comerford who earned 13th and Ontario’s Kelleigh Ryan who earned 15th. On Monday, women will compete in the sabre, while men will take up the foil, in Day Two of Pan-American Championship competitions.

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Written by Sportcom for the Canadian Fencing Federation