[Road to Rio] Olympic Qualification Update – October 2015

The FIE senior circuit has started back up and with it we have several points updates as teams and individuals compete for qualification points.

The Road to Rio post outlines the qualification process for the 2016 Olympics fencing competitions. In October there are updates for Mens and Womens Foil and Saber. To further complicate things, women’s foil and men’s saber only compete in the individual events so we don’t count their team events.

Women’s Foil

Starting off on the individual events, the Cancun World Cup didn’t change too much. The Russians and Italians dominate the point standings. Thibus (FRA) won the world cup, moving up from 9th to 7th on the qualification list. Italians Volpi and Batini took 2nd and 3rd in Cancun, but are both on the outside looking in for Olympic qualification.

Italian fencers Di Francisca and Errigo are ranked #1 and #3 in qualifying points right now, with the closest teammate being Vezzali, who is 50 points behind. Since only 2 from each country go that leaves several strong Italian fencers out.

The same is true of Russia – boasting fencers at the 2nd and 5th ranking slots.

The US fencers on top right now are Nzingha Prescod (6th) and Lee Kiefer (8th). Their closest competition is Nicole Ross who sits 29 points back.

Men’s Sabre

Some notable fencers are also paying the price of not being the top fencer on a good team. Aldo Montano (ITA) sits about 3 points outside of the top-14, and since Curatoli is ahead of him, that puts Montano at risk. 2 US fencers are in a good position to qualify: Daryl Homer (6th) and Eli Dershwitz (10th).

Russia, Korea, and Germany all have fencers that could be in position to qualify but those fencers suffer from being the 3rd ranked fencer on that team.

Team Events

The team events qualify fencers based on the team rankings. The top 4 in the world go and then the top team in each zone. To qualify a team must be in the top 16 of the current FIE team standings.

Women’s Sabre

Despite a horrible finish, taking 11th after an opening round loss to the Dominican Republic, the US team sits at 4th in the team qualification standings. The next closest team in the Americas zone to the US is Mexico, which is over 50 points behind.

France and the USA both dropped in their qualification rankings from 1st and 2nd to 3rd and 4th. Overtaking them are Russia, now at #1, and Ukraine, now at #2.

Italy is taking over the African zonal slot from Tunisia as Tunisia is outside of the top-16.

Men’s Team Foil

The big move from the San Jose world cup was Japan’s silver medal finish. That put Japan ahead of Korea for the zonal qualification slot. The US team sits at 5th which is a solid lead for the zonal qualification spot from the Americas. Brazil has the option to use their host nation entries for the team event.

Showing my work: Current Google Sheet links to points tracking:

• Women’s Foil Individual
• Men’s Sabre Individual
• Women’s Team Sabre
• Men’s Team Foil