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| Courtney Hurley (right) at the 2009 Junior World Championships. Photo by Serge Timacheff |
Scheduling quirk leaves this dynamic junior stuck in 2nd place in the FIE world rankings.
Courtney Hurley survived a 1st round scare and then went on to dominate her next matches at the Coupe Heracles Junior world cup in Budapest, Hungary. The American fencer’s next challenge was her quarterfinal match with Dorina Budai (HUN), the #3 seed.
Other US fencers that made the top 8 in Budapest were Men’s Sabre fencers Eric Arzoian (3rd) and Evan Prochniak (6th).
Hurley secured the tournament upset against Budai with a 15-14 victory and went on to the finals where she defeated Johanna Bergdahl (SWE) 15-10.
This is Courtney’s 4th 1st place finish in her last 5 junior tournaments. She placed 11th at the 2009 Junior World Championships and 9th at the Memorial de Martinengo in Bratislava in October.
{sidebar id=1}Despite the run of consecutive 1st place finishes, Hurley remains stuck at 2nd on the FIE world rankings for juniors. The reason rests on the zonal championship system.
Rossella Fiamingo of Italy sits ahead of Hurley by 20 points. 64 of her points are from her 1st place finish at the European Junior Championships which were held in October. The United States competes in the Pan American zone and the zone has not yet scheduled their junior championships, something that will impact juniors from the region when the Junior World Championships are held at the end of February.
Fiamingo has also notched a few junior world wins as she won two early season tournaments and finished 3rd in Budapest.
Courtney Hurley fences for Notre Dame University and is a member of the New York Athletic Club.