Miles Chamley-Watson wins the 2013 Fencing World Championship in Men’s Foil. Photo S.Timacheff/FencingPhotos.com
Budapest, 9 August 2013 – Miles Chamley-Watson (USA) becomes world champion in men’s foil and Olga Kharlan (UKR) takes her first individual gold at world championships.
Today’s men’s foil competition was full of surprises. None of the top seeded fencers made it into the semi-finals. World number 1 Andrea Cassara (ITA) lost his quarter-final bout against Rostyslav Hertsyk (UKR), Olympic Champion 2012 Lei Sheng dropped also out in the quarterfinals and Andrea Baldini (ITA), four time world champion Peter Joppich (GER) and Olympic silver medallist 2012 Alaaelding Abouelkassem did not even reach the top 8.
In the end, it was world number 6 Artur Akhmatkhuzin (RUS) and Miles Chamley-Watson (USA) that made it to the gold medal fight. Chamley-Watson had a fantastic start into the fight and was soon several touches ahead. He did not relent and closed the match at 15:6 to become the first US world champion in men’s foil.
This is the first medal for the United States at the 2013 Fencing World Championships.
Miles Chamley-Watson’s path through the championships:
Chamley-Watson started these World Championships fencing in the preliminary rounds where he won all of his matches to earn the 19th seed entering the elimination portion of the tournament. After winning his first match 15-12 he put through two 15-14 matches to knock out higher seeds. His first was Italy’s Giorgio Avola, the 2011 bronze medalist, followed by Alexey Cheremisinov (RUS) who held a #3 world ranking.
In the final 8 Miles followed up with another 15-14 victory over Sebastian Bachmann (GER). Bachmann had already knocked out #6 James Davis (GBR) but was unable to hold onto an early lead against Chamley-Watson.
Once in the semi-finals, Miles Chamley-Watson took control, dispatching Valerio Aspromonte (ITA) 15-9 and domining in the gold medal match against Artur Akhmatkhuzin (RUS) 15-6.
Women’s Sabre: Kharlan wins Individual Women’s Sabre Title
In women’s sabre, Olympic bronze medallist 2012 Olga Kharlan (UKR) showed an impressive fighting spirit in the semi-final against 2012 Olympic Champion Kim Jiyeon (KOR) and won 15:14 after being several times behind in a very close match. In the final she faced Ekaterina Dyatchenko (RUS) who had eliminated two times indivdual Olympic Champion Mariel Zagunis (USA) in a tied quarterfinal 15:14 and then beat Irene Vecchi (ITA) 15:12 to advance to the final.
In the final, Olga Kharlan overran Dyatchenko in the first half of the match and soon led 9:3. Dyatchenko fought back, closed the gap and tied at 12:12. However, Kharlan stayed concentrated and touched three times in a row to finish the match 15:12. It was her fifth straight podium position at a major event but her first individual title.
Men’s Foil Video:
Final Results: Men’s Foil
Olga Kharlan won gold in Women’s Sabre. Photo S.Timacheff/FencingPhotos.com
Rg
Last
First
Country
1
CHAMLEY-WATSON
Miles
USA
2
AKHMATKHUZIN
Artur
RUS
3
ASPROMONTE
Valerio
ITA
3
HERTSYK
Rostyslav
UKR
5
CASSARA
Andrea
ITA
6
LEI
Sheng
CHN
7
BACHMANN
Sebastian
GER
8
CHEUNG
Siu Lun
HKG
9
CHEREMISINOV
Alexey
RUS
10
MEINHARDT
Gerek
USA
11
MASSIALAS
Alexander
USA
12
IMBODEN
Race
USA
13
ABOUELKASSEM
Alaaeldin
EGY
14
HEO
Jun
KOR
15
SON
Young Ki
KOR
16
CHIDA
Kenta
JPN
17
BALDINI
Andrea
ITA
18
DAVIS
James-Andrew
GBR
19
JOPPICH
Peter
GER
20
MA
Jianfei
CHN
21
AVOLA
Giorgio
ITA
22
FUJINO
Daiki
JPN
23
RAJSKI
Leszek
POL
24
LE PECHOUX
Erwan
FRA
25
AYAD
Tarek
EGY
26
KIM
Minkyu
KOR
27
KHOVANSKIY
Alexey
RUS
28
POGREBNIAK
Andrii
UKR
29
AWAJI
Suguru
JPN
30
CADOT
Jeremy
FRA
31
CHOI
Nicholas Edward
HKG
32
MERTINE
Julien
FRA
33
MIYAKE
Ryo
JPN
34
KRUSE
Richard
GBR
35
HA
Taegyu
KOR
36
BRAUN
Marius
GER
37
WOHLGEMUTH
Dominik
AUT
38
BYK
Siarhei
BLR
39
PRANZ
Rene
AUT
40
NAKIS
Theodoros
GRE
41
CHOUPENITCH
Alexander
CZE
42
MAJEWSKI
Michal
POL
43
HATOEL
Maor
ISR
43
LEAL
Antonio J.
VEN
45
PRYMACK
Anthony
CAN
46
SEDOV
Artem
RUS
47
KUNDERA
Vaclav
CZE
48
JOVANOVIC
Bojan
CRO
49
GUSTINELLI
Johann
GER
50
BRU
Cesar
VEN
51
GATAI
Robert
HUN
52
MARCILLOUX
Marcel
FRA
53
SZABADOS
Gabor
HUN
53
TOLDO
Guilherme
BRA
55
KAWIECKI
Pawel
POL
56
YEUNG
Chi Ka
HKG
57
OR
Tomer
ISR
58
SZABADOS
Kristof
HUN
59
TAN
Yuan Zi
SIN
60
TSORONIS
Alexander
DEN
61
SUN
Bin
CHN
62
YUNES
Klod
UKR
63
BABAOGLU
Tevfik Burak
TUR
64
SZEKI
Bence
HUN
Final Results: Women’s Sabre
Rg
Last
First
Country
1
KHARLAN
Olga
UKR
2
DYACHENKO
Ekaterina
RUS
3
KIM
Jiyeon
KOR
3
VECCHI
Irene
ITA
5
ZAGUNIS
Mariel
USA
6
VOUGIOUKA
Vassiliki
GRE
7
SOCHA
Aleksandra
POL
8
VARHELYI
Anna
HUN
9
GAVRILOVA
Yuliya
RUS
10
LEE
Rajin
KOR
11
ZHU
Min
CHN
12
BENITEZ
Alejandra
VEN
13
OSTOJSKA
Matylda
POL
14
YOON
Jisu
KOR
15
BOULAY
Beline
FRA
16
PUNDYK
Galyna
UKR
17
WOZNIAK
Dagmara
USA
18
MUHAMMAD
Ibtihaj
USA
19
STONE
Anne-Elizabeth
USA
20
MARTON
Anna
HUN
21
PASCU
Bianca
ROU
22
PLIEGO
Paola
MEX
23
PEREZ MAURICE
Maria Belen
ARG
24
NAVARRO
Araceli
ESP
25
BERDER
Cecilia
FRA
25
KEDZIORA
Katarzyna
POL
27
BOUDIAF
Saoussen
FRA
28
PUDA
Marta
POL
29
EGORIAN
Yana
RUS
30
GRENCH
Eileen
PAN
31
QIAN
Jianmei
CHN
32
MARCOS
Sandra
ESP
33
GALIAKBAROVA
Dina
RUS
34
BESBES
Azza
TUN
35
KOMASHCHUK
Alina
UKR
36
SASSINE
Sandra
CAN
37
KLEMM
Sibylle
GER
38
LEMBACH
Charlotte
FRA
39
LIMBACH
Anna
GER
40
VILA
Laia
ESP
41
GONZALEZ GARATE
Ursula
MEX
42
GREGORIO
Rossella
ITA
42
KISIALIOVA
Volha
BLR
44
KIM
Ara
KOR
45
BENKO
Reka
HUN
46
BUNYATOVA
Sevinj
AZE
47
TOLEDO
Julieta
MEX
48
ZHIVITSA
Yuliya
KAZ
49
MIKINA
Sabina
AZE
50
HO
Siu In Jenny
HKG
51
STAGNI
Livia
ITA
52
VORONINA
Olena
UKR
53
BUJDOSO
Alexandra
GER
54
BUNYATOVA
Sevil
AZE
55
KUBISSA
Stefanie
GER
56
BIANCO
Ilaria
ITA
57
BULICA
Mihaela
ROU
58
HIROSE
Erika
JPN
59
LAM
Hin Wai
HKG
59
ZHANG
Xueqian
CHN
61
UGO
Elora
BRA
62
ITOH
Mami
JPN
63
PONICH
Marissa
CAN
64
AHMAD
Hareem
FIE