It was another historic day for Canadian fencing with women’s foil fencers finishing 1-2 at the Junior World Cup event this past weekend in Belgrade, Serbia.

The gold medal was won by Eleanor Harvey (Toronto, ON) who defeated fellow Canadian Alanna Goldie (Calgary, AB) 15-7 in the final. This was Harvey’s first World Cup win, which moves her into 4th place overall in the Junior World rankings. Harvey started the day off with a defeat against a Romanian fencer but then proceeded to get stronger through the preliminary rounds, winning her next five bouts. She went on to win the next five bouts in the direct elimination round which eventually earned her the gold medal.

“I am excited to win my first Junior World Cup and it was amazing to be able to share it with my teammate Alanna Goldie as my opponent,” stated Harvey. “Alanna showed me and other Canadians that it was possible to win on the World Cup circuit earlier this year with her victory in the Poland Junior World Cup. Her victory in Poland was the first time a Canadian women’s foil fencer ever won a junior world cup, now we have won two!”

Harvey, who recently turned 18 years of age in January, still has two more years to compete at the junior level. She has been steadily climbing the rankings with a sixth place finish at a Junior World Cup event December 15th in Leszno, Poland and recently won gold at the Pan American Junior Championships in February. Harvey finished 13th at the 2012 Junior Cadet World Championships a year ago but she is aiming for higher at this year’s event in April in Croatia. “I am very excited for the upcoming Junior World Championships in Porec, Croatia in a few weeks,” stated Harvey. “We came to Belgrade to do a warm up tournament for Junior Worlds, and I look forward to taking this experience with me to Porec.”

It was a great tournament for Alanna Goldie who made history as the first Canadian foil fencer to win gold at a Junior World Cup this past December. She won all 5 of her preliminary bouts, and entered the direct elimination round ranked 3rd overall. She won all of her direct elimination bout easily, losing only to Harvey in the final. With her second place finish, Goldie who turns 19 in April moves into 5th place in the World Junior rankings.

Weapon Leader and Coach Paul ApSimon (Ottawa, ON) was thrilled with their performance. “It was a perfect day, a first ever 1-2 finish on the World Cup stage for Canadian fencing. The athletes fed off each other and got stronger and stronger throughout the day,” commented ApSimon. “This result is a confirmation that the Canadian women’s foil program has a bright future. Alanna and Eleanor have been winning big events all year and are now ranked 4th and 5th on the Junior World Cup circuit. The fact that they still have 2 and 3 Junior World Championships left is very exciting for Canadian Fencing.”

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For further information, please contact: Caroline Sharp, ed@fencing.ca, (613)323-5605.