2017 Rome Wheelchair World Championships Recap

Rome, Italy – The International Wheelchair & Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) Wheelchair Fencing World Championships wrapped up this past Sunday with Russia emerging as the clear winner, with 7 Gold, 7 Silver and 11 Bronze medals – totaling 25. Italy won 5 Gold, 3 Silver and 3 Bronze medals with a total of 11, putting them in second place. Ukraine and Hungary rounded out third and fourth place respectively, each getting 3 Gold and 2 Silver medals, but with Ukraine just edging Hungary out with 4 Bronze medals to Hungary’s 3. From there, the medal counts are lower, with the highest total being 4.

Team USA took home 1 Bronze medal, putting it tied with Greece for 15th overall. The sole medal came from the Men’s Epee Cat C event, courtesy of Curtis Lovejoy, a two-time Wheelchair Fencing World Champion and 18x Gold Medalist Swimmer. In most other events, however, Team USA placed medium to low, with competitors often being eliminated early on in the events.

Aside from the dominating performances of the top 4 teams, another standout team is Great Britain. The pair of Dimitri Coutya and Piers Gilliver account for all of the medals the team won in the competition, however, of the few other events GBR entered, they tended towards the top 16. Despite a low roster, the team itself placed 5th overall. It would be easy to see them breaking past 10 medals if the team expanded.

Another standout is Hong Kong’s women’s epee team, who accounted for 2 of the team’s 3 medals. In particular, Chui Yee Yu, who was responsible for all 3 in some way, placing 2nd and 3rd for Cat A Epee and Foil respectively and who was on the team to win the Women’s Epee event.

The modern Paralympic games originated from the Stoke Mandeville Games, a sporting event hosted by the Spinal Injuries Center of the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, England.  Fencing joined the Stoke Mandeville Games in 1954 and has been featured in every Paralympic Games since their official inception in 1960. Wheelchair fencing follows the same pattern as the able-bodied Olympics, in that there is a yearly World Championship event, except in Paralympic years as the Paralympics count also as World Championship events.  

The rules of Wheelchair fencing are rooted in the rules of FIE, with some alterations. Competitors can choose to compete in two of the three weapons and wheelchairs are fixed to a frame, where the distance is determined according to rules in each weapon, either the outstretched weapon arm touching the end or inside of the elbow. One of the larger differences is in the epee target area, which does not include area below the waist. Competitors go through a classification once they meet the Minimum Disability Criteria, and are sorted into four Sport Classes, one of these having two subclasses. Sport Classes 3 and 4 make up Category A, which is the Category with “good sitting balance.” Class 2 makes up Category B with “fair sitting balance.” Finally, Classes 1A and 1B make up Category C with “no sitting balance.”

The Championship took place in Convention Center of the Hilton Rome Airport hotel between Nov. 7-12. The host city for the 2018 IWAS Wheelchair Fencing World Championship has yet to be announced.

Full Medal Results

Men’s Foil, Category B

1. GBR – COUTYA Dimitri
2. UKR – DATSKO Anton
3. POL – GAWORSKI Jacek
3. FRA – VALET Maxime

13. USA – MORENO Gerard
14. USA – BRINSON Joey

Men’s Foil, Category A

1. HUN – OSVATH Richard
2. ITA – BETTI Matteo
3. RUS – FEDYAEV Roman
3. RUS –  NAGAEV Nikita

33. USA –  QUATTROCIOCCHI Andrew

Women’s Epee, Category A

1. HUN – KRAJNYAK Zsuzsanna
2. HKG –  YU Chui Yee
3. UKR –  BREUS Yevheniia
3. KOR –  KIM Sunmi

Women’s Sabre, Category B

1. GEO – KHETSURIANI Irma
2. THA – JANA Saysunee
3. POL – HAREZA Patrycja
3. RUS – MISHUROVA Irina

14. USA – DE MELLO Andrea

Women’s Foil, Category B

1. ITA – VIO Beatrice Maria
2. RUS –  BOYKOVA Viktoria
3. BLR –  MAKRYTSKAYA Alesia
3. RUS –  MISHUROVA Irina

17. USA –  GEDDES Ellen

Women’s Foil, Category A

1. HUN – KRAJNYAK Zsuzsanna
2. HUN –  HAJMASI Eva Andrea
3. RUS – EVDOKIMOVA Alena
3. HKG – YU Chui Yee

24. USA – DYKES Patricia

Men’s Epee, Category B

1. GBR – COUTYA Dimitri
2. ITA –  SARRI Alessio
3. IRQ –  ALI Ammar
3. FRA –  IFEBE Yannick

Men’s Sabre, Category A

1. RUS – SHABUROV Maxim
2. HUN – OSVATH Richard
3. GBR – GILLIVER Piers
3. GRE – NTOUNIS Vasileios

Women’s Epee, Category B

1. RUS – BOYKOVA Viktoria
2. THA – JANA Saysunee
3. BLR – FIAKLISTAVA Kristina
3. RUS – VASILEVA Ludmila

14. USA – GEDDES Ellen
15. USA – DE MELLO Andrea

Men’s Epee, Category A

1. RUS – SHABUROV Maxim
2. GBR – GILLIVER Piers
3. RUS – FEDYAEV Roman
3. RUS – YUSUPOV Artur

40. USA – QUATTROCIOCCHI Andrew

Women’s Sabre, Category A

1. UKR – MORKVYCH Nataliia
2. UKR – BREUS Yevheniia
3. GEO – TIBIASHVILI Nino
3. HUN – VERES Amarilla

Men’s Sabre, Category B

1. ITA – SARRI Alessio
2. RUS – KAMALOV Albert
3. FRA – IFEBE Yannick
3. RUS – KURZIN Alexander

18. USA – BRINSON Joey
19. USA – MORENO Gerard

Women’s Foil, Category C

1. RUS – OVSYANNIKOVA Ksenia
2. GER – LOTZ-LANGE Ulrike
3. ITA – NORA Consuelo
3. UKR – PASHKOVA Hanna

Team Men’s Foil

1. ITA
2. RUS
3. POL

10. USA

Team Women’s Epee

1. HKG
2. RUS
3. HUN

Men’s Epee, Category C

1. UKR – SHAVKUN Serhii
2. RUS – BARINOV Sergey
3. RUS – BELYAEV Dmitry
3. USA – LOVEJOY Curtis

Team Women’s Foil

1. ITA
2. RUS
3. HUN

Men’s Foil, Category C

1. RUS – LOGUTENKO Alexander
2. KOR – PARK Chunhee
3. ITA – RUSSO William
3.  UKR – SHAVKUN Serhii

7. USA – LOVEJOY Curtis

Women’s Epee, Category C

1. RUS – OVSYANNIKOVA Ksenia
2. GER – LOTZ-LANGE Ulrike
3. RUS – GLADILINA Anna
3. ITA – NORA Consuelo

Team Men’s Sabre

1. ITA
2. RUS
3. UKR

Team Men’s Epee

1. RUS
2. FRA
3. IRQ

Team Women’s Sabre

1. UKR
2. ITA
3. POL

Medal Count