Many Canadian fencers were in action this past week and weekend in FIE competitions around the world.

Canada’s top Veteran Fencers competed in the 2016 Veteran World Championships in Stralsund, Germany which took place October 11^th to the 16^th. Canada had two fencers make the quarter-finals to finish top eight. Evgeny Bozhenko from Toronto lost his quarter-final bout 10-9 to Gabor Riesz from Hungary to finish in 8^th place overall in 50+ Men’s Foil. Torontonian Mark Ballard who won bronze in the Men’s Foil B in 2015, lost his quarter-final bout in 60+ Men’s Epee to finish 6^th overall.

Several Canadian Senior Women’s Foil athletes travelled to Cancun, Mexico to take part in the Women’s Foil Satellite tournament on October 12^th in advance of the Cancun World Cup. Shannon Comerford (Saskatoon, SK) had Canada’s top result, finishing 6^th after losing her quarter-final bout to Julie Mienville of France 15-10.

The Cancun World Cup, the first Women’s Foil World Cup of the season, got started on Friday, October 14^th with Individual competition. An impressive five of the six Canadians entered in the competition made it through to the 64’s after pool play. Rio Olympian Eleanor Harvey (Hamilton, ON) had Canada’s top result, finishing in 10^th place after losing by one point to Chaira Cini from Italy 8-7. Alanna Goldie (Calgary, AB) finished 21^st after losing her bout also by one point, to Italy’s Cini 15-14. Kelleigh Ryan (Ottawa, ON), Shannon Comerford (Saskatoon, SK), and Jerrica Gu (Edmonton, AB) lost their 64 bouts to finish 37^th, 43^rd and 56^th respectively. Arianne Bilodeau (Montreal, QC) finished 72^nd.

The Women’s Foil team competition got underway Sunday with Harvey, Goldie, Ryan and Comerford representing Canada, who is currently ranked 8^th in the world. Canada continues to be on the rise in Women’s Team Foil, finishing the Cancun event in 5^th place, a best ever result for Canada’s Women’s Foil Team in world cup competition! The team defeated Poland 30-28 to advance to face Hungary for 5^th place, and Canada came away with the win 45-39. Canada’s only loss was in the quarter-finals to France which put them in the 5^th-8^th ranking bouts and just out of the medal round.

Meanwhile, Rio Olympian Leonora Mackinnon (Canadian living in the UK) attended the Women’s Epee Satellite tournament in Belgrade on October 15^th and won a bronze medal. She defeated Jane Grijak of Serbia 15-14 to advance to the medal round, where she lost a close bout 15-13 to the eventual gold medalist Raluca Cristina Sbarcia of Romania. This was Mackinnon’s second medal in Satellite competition this season.

Canada’s Junior Men’s and Women’s Epee athletes competed in World Cups this weekend.

The Women’s Epee team of Monica Lubczynski (Pointe Claire, QC), Cindy Gao (Toronto, ON) Alexanne Verret (Quebec, QC) and Shirley Guo (North York, ON) finished in 9^th place with 3 wins and 1 loss. The team unfortunately lost their first bout in the 16’s against Switzerland by a score of 40-35 which put them in the 9-16 ranking bouts. They went on to win three impressive bouts to take top spot of 9^th, defeating the Czech Republic 42-35, Turkey 45-31 and Romania 35-26.

It was a similar story for the Canada’s Men’s Epee Team who were in the Men’s Epee Junior World Cup in Riga. The team of Loic Beaulieu (Sherbrooke, QC), Lou-Yann Ferre (Quebec, QC), Matthew Litwin (Toronto, ON) and Fynn Fafard (Roberts Creek, BC) lost their round of 16 bout to the USA 45-37 which put them in the 9-16 ranking bouts. They won all three of their next bouts to finish in 9^th, defeating Ukraine 45-40, Czech Republic 45-42 and Estonia 45-40.

With strong results early in the season, Canadian fencers continue to show that they are on the rise.

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