{mosimage}Olympic gold medalist Mariel Zagunis (20, Beaverton, Ore.) has won her sixth World Championship Title, at the 2005 Junior & Cadet World Championships in Linz, Austria.
Zagunis won the Junior Women’s Saber event today. It was her nine Junior & Cadet Worlds medal overall. (See below for a list of Zagunis’s World Championship titles.)
No other U.S. fencer in any age group has come close to earning as many World titles. She defeated Sophia Velikaia of Russia 15-9 for the gold.
Zagunis and team- and clubmate Rebecca Ward (15, Portland, Ore.) unfortunately met up in the quarterfinals of the competition. Ward was crowned the overall Junior World Cup Champion this season.
The two have been trading victories on the World Cup scene all season, and today was Zagunis’s day; she won the match 15-13; Ward finished fifth.
{mosimage}U.S. Olympian and 2003 Junior World Champion Emily Jacobson (19, Dunwoody, Ga.), the top seed going into the table, was upset in her bout in the round of 16 by 17th-seed Olga Kharlan of the Ukraine 6-15.
In the Junior Men’s Foil competition, the highest U.S. finisher, Andras Horanyi (18, Boulder, Colo.), lost his match in the round of 16 to spoiler Yuki Ota of Japan 13-15. Ota went into the tableau of 64 seeded 62nd and then steadily upset opponent after opponent, including the 3rd and 6th seeds. He eventually won the bronze.
U.S. junior foilist Kurt Getz (16, Rye, N.Y.) lost his match in the round of 32 to the top seed in the table, Andrea Baldini of Italy, 3-15. Baldini was the 2003 Junior World Cup Champion; he went on to defeat Russian Olympian Renal Ganeev in the semifinals and won the silver in the competition.
The final U.S. junior, Nick Chinman, lost his first match in the direct elimination phase to Dimitri Patrik Clairet Roa of Columbia, 7-15.
Stay tuned tomorrow as Junior individual competition continues with the Junior Women’s Epee and Junior Men’s Saber events. Live results are being posted at
Junior & Cadet World Championships, Linz, Austria
Day 4, March 26, 2005
Junior Women’s Saber – 67 competitors
1 ZAGUNIS Mariel (20, Beaverton, Ore./Oregon Fencing Alliance/Notre Dame ’08)
2 VELIKAIA Sophia RUS
3 KHARLAN Olga UKR
3 POSTIGLIONE Mariangela ITA
5 WARD Rebecca (15, Portland, Ore./Oregon Fenc. Alliance/home school)
6 CLOUTIER Julie CAN
7 VERGNE Carole FRA
8 BIESINGER Tamara GER
9 JACOBSON Emily (19, Dunwoody, Ga./Nellya Fencers/Columbia ’08)
Junior Men’s Foil – 118 competitors
1 KLEIBRINK Benjamin GER
2 BALDINI Andrea ITA
3 GANEEV Renal RUS
3 OTA Yuki JPN
5 ALONGI Giuseppe ITA
6 JOURNET Benoit FRA
7 ZHOU Zhile CHN
8 CLAIRET ROA Dimitri Patrik COL
11 HORANYI Andras (18, Boulder, Colo./Northern Colo. Fencers/Boulder H.S. ’05)
24 GETZ Kurt (16, Rye, N.Y./Fencing Acad. of Westchester/Rye Country Day Schl., ’06) 76 CHIMAN Nick (16, Boulder, Colo./Northern Colo. Fencers/Boulder H.S. ’06)
World Championship titles earned by Mariel Zagunis
2000: Senior Team World Champion
2001: Cadet World Champion, Junior World Champion, Junior Team World Champion
2004: Junior Team World Champion
2005: Junior World Champion