Fencing Preview
The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, now taking place in 2021, will mark the first time both individual and team fencing competitions will be held in all six weapons (men’s and women’s epee, foil and saber), and Team USA is expected to have medal contenders in each weapon.
The U.S. Olympic fencing team won four medals at Rio 2016 and returns most of those medalists for the Tokyo Games. In Rio, the U.S. won silver medals in men’s epee (Alexander Massialas) and men’s saber (Daryl Homer), as well as bronze medals in men’s team foil and women’s team saber.
The U.S. men’s foil team is favored to return to the podium with three of the four members of the 2016 team again representing Team USA in Tokyo. Alexander Massialas, Gerek Meinhardt and Race Imboden return for another attempt at a medal. Massialas and Meinhardt will compete in both the individual and team events while Imboden will travel to Tokyo as the replacement athlete for the team event only. The third individual slot belongs to first-time Olympian Nick Itkin.
The women’s foil squad now has earned three-straight team medals at the world championships (silver in 2017, gold in 2018 and bronze in 2019). The women’s foil team consists of Olympian Lee Kiefer, Jackie Dubrovich and Olympian Nicole Ross in the individual spots with Youth Olympian Sabrina Massialas as the replacement athlete.
In the men’s saber event, Rio silver medalist Daryl Homer has his eyes on a return to the podium, but it is his teammate and fellow Olympian Eli Dershwitz who earned the first individual slot on the men’s saber team with a silver medal win at the Warsaw World Cup in February. They are joined by Andrew Mackiewicz and Khalil Thompson as the replacement athlete.
On the women's side, two-time Olympic saber champion Mariel Zagunis returns for a fifth Olympic appearance Her Rio teammate Dagmara Wozniak returns as well from their bronze-medal winning team in 2016. Eliza Stone is the other individual fencer with Francesca Russo as the replacement.
Like the women’s foil team, the women’s epee team won gold for the first time ever at the world championships in 2018. The epee team consists of Olympic medalists Courtney Hurley, Kelley Hurley and Olympian Kat Holmes in the individual spots with Anna van Brummen as the replacement athlete.
In men’s epee, Jake Hoyle, Curtis McDowald and Yeisser Ramirez all make their first Olympic Team in individual spots with Alan Hadzic as the replacement.
The foil is a thrusting weapon, and points are scored with hits to the torso using the tip of the blade only. Epee is a thrusting weapon like the foil, but weighs 775 grams compared to 500 grams for foil. The saber is a cutting and thrusting weapon. Points can be scored across the entire upper half of the body.
Updated on June 16, 2021. For more information, contact the sport press officer here.