In an initiative by the United States Fencing Association (USFA) to raise money for its elite athletes: Jonathan Tiomkin and Jedediah Dupree, two of the men’s foil team which placed fourth at the Athens Olympics, met in a bout which lasted more than five hours to make the Guinness Book of Records with the world record of the longest lasting duel.
The American foilists met Friday, May 20, in the DeCapriles fencing salle at NYU. US national team captain Jeff Bukantz served as the referee for the event. The two fencers took a five minutes rest after each hour of fencing which was close until the end. Incredibly at the end after five hours of fencing Tiomkin and Dupree (who had to replace at the last moment an injured Dan Kellner) were still even at 208-208. The final touch for 209-208 was scored by Tiomkin.