USA star Lee Kiefer wins FIE World Cup opener in Cancun

The two-time Olympian and the first American women’s foil fencer to be ranked number one in the world won the gold medal at the season-opening event by defeating Italy’s Alice Volpi. In what was an exciting gold medal bout, Kiefer, 23 and now ranked number three in the world, eventually came out on top by the finest of margins over her Italian opponent winning by 15 touches to 14.

Coming off a historic team silver medal earned at the 2017 world championships in July, Kiefer won all six of her matches on Saturday. They included a 15-10 win over six-time world team medallist Larisa Korobeynikova of Russia in the round of 16, a 15-10 success over Pauline Ranvier of France in the quarter-finals and then a 15-7 win over 2014 world silver medallist Martina Batini of Italy in the semi-finals.

Kiefer scored the biggest victory of her young career in March when she defeated two-time Olympic champion Inna Deriglazova of Russia at the Long Beach Grand Prix, becoming the first USA women’s fencer in foil history to earn the number one world ranking.

For her part, Volpi, the 2017 world silver medallist, earned the silver after an impressive showing which included victories over Kiefer’s teammate, Nicole Ross, by 15 touches to 10 in the quarter-finals, before accounting for Italian teammate Arianna Errigo 15-7 in the semi-finals.

The action in the Cancun World Cup came to a close on Sunday with the women’s team foil competition which was won by Russia.
In what was another enthralling gold medal bout, the Russians beat Italy by 45-42 to take the title.

To reach the Final, having received a bye at the round of 16 stage the winners had to negotiate victories over Germany in the quarter-finals by 45 touches to 25, before they were pushed all the way by the USA in the semi-finals, finally overcoming their opponents in an epic battle by 45 touches to 44.

Italy by contrast had a marginally easier route to the gold medal bout. They too received a bye in the round of 16, before they took on and beat Japan 45-33 in the quarter-finals, ahead of seeing off Canada 45-25 in the semi-finals.

The FIE World Cup season has a double bill of action this weekend. From 20 to 22 October, the women’s individual and team epee competitions will be fought out in Tallinn, Estonia, whilst the men’s individual and team foil competitions are being staged in Le Caire, Egypt.