Women’s teams making important progress in search of Olympic qualifying points
The Canadian women’s team events saw great results this weekend in Orleans, France and Cairo, Egypt. Top finish of the weekend goes to the senior women’s foil team of Alanna Goldie (Calgary, AB), Jessica Zi Jia Guo (Toronto, ON), Eleanor Harvey (Hamilton, ON), and Kelleigh Ryan (Ottawa, ON), who placed 5th in Cairo. Their climb to 5th started with a bye in the table of 32 and a victory over the team of Hong Kong/China, 44-32, in the table of 16. They fell short to Italy, 45-24, in the table of 8. This finish is one of the best ever World Cup results for Canadian women’s foil. The Italian team would go on to place first, beating Russia in a close bout of 42-40. As of November 24th, the Canadian senior women’s foil team has a birth in the team provisional Olympic qualifications, sitting at #6. Zone competitors, the USA, hold the #3 spot.
Additionally, the senior women’s sabre team of Gabriella Page (Blainville, QC), Marissa Ponich (Edmonton, AB), Madison Thurgood (Edmonton, AB) and Reghan Ward (Montreal, QC) placed 15th at the World Cup in Orleans. They triumphed over Tunisia, 45-28, in the table of 32, however found defeat facing Korea in the table of 16. The Canadian team placed 15th. As of November 23rd, Gabriella Page was ranked 29th in the world, and currently holds the #4 spot in the individual provisional Olympic qualifications.
With the calendar year of 2019 quickly wrapping up, the number of competitions are only increasing, including Olympic qualifying competitions. While our seniors take a break this weekend, Canadian cadet athletes will travel to Cabries in southern France to compete in both male and female foil events.
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