April 24 – Canada’s Fencing Teams earned three medals to end the Senior Pan Am Fencing Championships.  These Championships are an important event in the Olympic qualification process for Rio and Teams that eventually qualify, gain entry in Individual and team events at the Games.

First up was Women’s Epee and Canada’s team was composed of Joanna Guy (Mississauga, ON), Malinka Hoppe Montanaro (Montreal, QC), Alexis Rudkovska (Toronto, ON) and Leonora Mackinnon a Canadian who lives in England and was fresh off her bronze medal win in Individual women’s epee.

The team was off to a great start, winning their first bout against Peru.  Next they faced Argentina in the quarter-finals, a top team that has defeated them the last three times they faced each other.  Not this day however as Canada came out on top.  Canada faced the US in the semi-finals and lost 45-28 and unfortunately lost to Cuba for the bronze medal to finish in 4^th place.

Women’s Epee National Program Coach, David Howes said the following about his team’s performance: “I was very happy with how the team fenced in the quarterfinals against Argentina, taking the lead after the third relay and finishing with a solid victory. This was the first time in the past three years that we’ve managed to beat them at Pan Ams so it was especially sweet to finally do it. Our match against the US started well and we were close after the third relay, but we were not ready to beat the Americans today and they pulled away from us. The bronze medal match against Cuba was a very disappointing way to end the competition. The team really wanted to go home with a medal, but too many mistakes early on in the match proved to be the difference and we were never able to get back in it.” 

Canada’s Men’s Foil Team, silver medalists at the 2014 Senior Pan Am Championships were up next.  The team, composed of Anthony Prymack (Montreal, QC), Maximilien Van Haaster (Montreal, QC) Eli Schenkel (Jamaica, NY), and Etienne Lalonde-Turbide (Montreal, QC) came out strong, winning their match against Venezuela 45-37 to advance to the semi-finals.  They then faced Brazil and lost a heartbreaker 45-40.  The team faced Mexico for bronze and won convincingly, 45-26. 

Said Men’s Foil National Program Coach, Alex Kuznetsov about the team’s performance: “We expected to achieve the same result as last year or do better, but we lost to Brazil 45-40 in the top four. We did go on to beat Mexico 45-26 and win the bronze. There is still the chance to qualify for the Olympic Games, we just have to work harder.”

Canada’s Women’s Sabre team, a young team composed of Gabriella Page (Blainville, QC), Frederic Chevarie (Sainte-Julie, QC), Marissa Ponich (Edmonton, AB), and Meredith Giroux (Hamilton, ON), finished just off the podium in fourth place.  They defeated Cuba 45-38 to advance to the semi-finals where they lost to Mexico 45-33.  They then lost a heartbreaker 45-39 to Venezuela in the Bronze final.

Canada’s Men’s Epee team, composed of Vincent Pelletier (Quebec, QC), Hugues Boisvert-Simard (Quebec, QC), Jean Lelion (Montreal, QC) and Leland Guillemin (Saskatoon, SK), won silver in 2014 but finished in a disappointing sixth place.  The team was missing the participation of Maxime Brinck-Croteau who won silver in the Individual competition, but was now out due to an infection in his foot.  The team had an unlucky draw and faced Cuba, the 2014 champions, in its quarter-final bout and lost 45-31.  They then defeated Mexico 45-31 but lost their final bout 45-37 to Colombia. 

“It is extremely disappointing,” stated Vincent Pelletier following the event. “Unfortunately these things happen sometimes but we now have to concentrate on a good result at the World Championships, to increase our ranking in the Olympic team selection process.”

Canada finished off the Team competition on a high note with two silver medals, one in Women’s Foil and the other in Men’s Sabre.

Representing Canada in women’s foil were Eleanor Harvey (Hamilton, ON), Kelleigh Ryan (Ottawa, ON), Alanna Goldie (Calgary, AB) and Shannon Comerford (Saskatoon, SK).  The team started strong, defeating Chili 45-18 in their first bout. Next they faced Brazil in the quarter-final match and won 45-36 to send them to the final.  They fenced the US for gold but lost 41-30 to take silver.

Canada’s Men’s Sabre Team had a similar day.  The team of Joseph Polossifakis (Laval, QC), Remi Bedard-Couture (Montreal, QC), Shaul Gordon (Richmond, BC) and Mark Peros (Toronto, ON) breezed to the final with convincing victories against Puerto Rico (45-25) and Venezuela (45-26).  Canada faced the US in the final and fought to the end, losing 45-37 to take silver.

Canada leaves the Senior Pan Am Fencing Championships with five medals – three silver and two bronze, including two in Individual in Men’s and Women’s Epee and three in team events for Men’s Foil, Women’s Foil and Men’s Sabre.  Canada also had two teams finish just off the podium in 4^th place, and ten athletes finish top 8 in Individual.

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