Heidemann takes Epee Gold, Fiery Finale

Britta Heidmann survived a fire in the venue and added to Germany’s gold medal count by breaking out of 9th seed to take the individual world championship in Women’s Epee in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Heidmann was a member of the broze medal epee team at the 2006 world championships held in Turin, Italy. She defeated Chinese epeeist Li Na 14-10 in the finals. Irina Embrich (EST) and Maureen Nisima (FRA) took bronze.

Said Serge Timacheff, "A fire broke out in the finals venue today in the overhead lighting system during the women’s epee round of 16. It took workers more than 30 minutes to put it out, as they had to literally build a scaffolding to climb up and use fire extinguishers on the 5-foot-high flames. "

Nobody was hurt during the fire, and the fencing continued.

The fire didn’t help out American hopes today, as the only US women’s victory came when Estonian Maarika Vosu was eliminated from competition for not showing up to the strip on time for her match with Courtney Hurley. Hurley was the only US fencer to advance to the round of 32. 8th seed Sherrain Schalm of Canada was eliminated in the round of 64.

Women’s Epee Final Placement (Top 8)

Women’s Epee – Top 8 Direct Elimination Table

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Full Placement List (126 Fencers)