Lausanne, 16 October 2013 – The creation of a new Grand Prix series for the 2014/2015 season was announced today by the International Fencing Federation (FIE).
The Grand Prix series will comprise nine high level events of which three will be held in Europe, three in the Americas and three in Asia. The first event will be staged in November 2014. Several major cities already announced their interest to host one of the Grand Prix events.
The Grand Prix series follows a reform of the competition calendar with the aim of covering the whole year with attractive events, the highlight being the world championships in July/August.
“The FIE has decided to restructure its’ competition calendar in order to create a marketable product that is appealing on and for TV. We will have nine events in nine iconic places, spread from November to June. With this global initiative our objective is to continue to grow the visibility and popularity of fencing by giving the world’s best athletes an excellent stage to showcase the dynamism and elegance of fencing. While the Grand Prix series is a monumental step forward for the FIE in terms of marketing we still keep the athletes’ health in the centre of interest; this is why we paid attention to scheduling the events in a manner that allows athletes to accommodate training and rest periods”, said FIE Secretary General Frédéric Pietruszka after the announcement in the framework of the Sportel Conference in Monaco.
The next FIE World Cup events start with the Men’s Epee Grand Prix in Doha, Qatar on January 16, 2014.