It was a continent spanning weekend of fencing for Scottish fencers young and young-at-heart this weekend. Cadets were in action in London and Budapest, u23s in London, seniors in Orleans and veterans in Madrid.
The outstanding result of the weekend was by foil cadet Callum Penman (Salle Holyrood) who made the L16 in the International Cadet Foil event in Budapest. In a field of 285 Callum was seeded 44th after the poules. He proceeded to fight through the L256 15-2, L128 15-10, L64 15-4 and L32 15-8, before finally succumbing in the L16 to American Mitchell Huth 15-6. This result will put Callum in a very good position in respect of making the GB team for European and World Championships next year.
Callum’s Salle Holyrood teammate Jaimie Cook also had a very good day making the L32. Seeded 63rd after the poules Jaimie won 15-2, 15-10 to reach the L64 where he faced the 2nd seed, who he then dispatched 15-7. In L32 he lost out 15-7 to finish 29th. Another great result.
Jaime and Callum also fenced in the team event but GB unfortunately lost their L32 45-37 to finish 17th.
The final Scottish fencer in the men’s event was Thomas Walton (Salle Holyrood) who was making his GB debut. Seeded 171st after the poules he upset the seeding by winning his L256 comfortably 15-6. He lost in the L128 to eventual bronze medalist Valeri Kornlov of Russia to finish 124th. Hopefully the first of many GB appearances for Thomas.
In the women’s cadet there also two very good L128 finishes. Zoe Wagstaff (Salle Holyrood) won her L256 15-10 before narrowly losing to the 13th seed 15-12 in the L128 to end the day 122nd out of 265. Hannah Fielding (Edinburgh Fencing Club) making her GB debut defied her lower seeding to win her L256 15-7 before missing out in the L128 15-8 to finish 126th. Also making their GB debut in the women’s event was Imogen Cook (Salle Holyrood) who lost in the L256 to finish 194th.
At the veterans sabre event in Madrid Michele Narey just missed out on a medal losing in the L8 to finish 6th.
Staying on mainland Europe Jessica Corby (Leon Paul, 145th) and Kate Daykin (Salle Ossian, 122nd) were both competing in the Senior sabre event in Orleans for GB. Unfortunately they both missed the cut after the poules.
Continuing with sabre the British Fencing U23 took place at the Leon Paul Centre in Hendon. In the women’s event, Elsie Llewellyn (Sancroft Blades) won bronze. Seeded first after the poules she defeated fellow Scot Cerys Manning (University of Glasgow, 8th) in the L8 before losing a tight L4 15-12. Salle Ossian fencers Charlotte Wilson-Smith (5th) and Caitlin Quinn (7th) also finished in the L8.
In the men’s event Ethan Llewellyn (Sancroft Blades, 8th) came through a nail biting L32 15-14 before winning his L16 15-12 . He was defeated in the L8 15-5 by the eventual silver medal winner.
In the final sabre event of the weekend, the cadet BRC, Rosie Shaw (17th), Joshua Bryden (19th), Oisin Lindsay-Dorward (21st), Miller Hetherington (27th) and Hugo Shaw (29th) all from Salle Ossain, reached the L32. While Griffin Manning (Edinburgh Fencing Club, 33rd) and Calum Kettles (Salle Ossian, 34th) made the L64.
Joe Donaghue (Fencers Club London, 13th) was the sole male Scottish fencer at the Junior foil ranking event at the Sports Doc in London. Seeded 12th after two rounds of poules he had a bye to the L32 where he won 15-6, before losing by a single hit in the L16 15-14. In the women’s event Eilidh Hall (University of Glasgow, 17th) made the L32.
Once again Scottish fencing would like to thank all the fencers, coaches, clubs and parents for their fantastic commitment to the sport. In what is always a hectic time of year competition wise we salute you.
#ForgingTheFuture
(Sincere apologies if I have missed anyone or made any errors. All mistakes are the authors.)
