Men’s Epee – What to Watch for in Legnano

The final leg of Olympic qualification for Men’s Epee begins this weekend in Legnano, Italy with a World Cup event.  This event provides standard points, with 32 points to the winner down to 2 points for a 33-64 finish.

US fencers Soren Thompson and Seth Kelsey look to keep their bids alive with strong finishes.  Soren will enter the event ranked 10th in the world, and will receive a bye to the top-64.  Kelsey, ranked 18th, will have to fight his way through pools.

Unless Thompson and Ruben Limardo (VEN) have very bad showings, the bids should remain secure for the top Americans.

More important to watch is the battle within the Italian and French teams for qualification slots.  Because Men’s Epee is only an individual event at the 2012 Games, each country is allowed a maximum of 2 fencers.  This ruling currently has Italy’s Matteo Tagliariol (9th in the world) and Yannick Borel (FRA), ranked 14th, on the outs to their higher ranked compatriats.

Alfredo Rota is the Italian in Tagliariol’s sights.  Rota is ranked 17th in the FIE rankings, but has more Olympic qualifying points at the moment.  Rota’s lead is also 9 points, so it could take this and the Doha Grand Prix result to solidify the standings.

On the French side, Borel is 20 points behind Gauthier Grumier so unless Borel fences magnificently AND Grumier has a meltdown in the 64, don’t expect that to change.

Fencers on the bubble include Nikolai Novosjolov (EST), Jin Sun Jung (KOR) and Gabor Boczko (HUN).  They are all qualified via the zonal process at the moment but could see their fortunes change with a bad first round.

Once the results are in, we’ll provide an update on the qualification standings as well as some thoughts on the rest of the qualifying season.  For a look at the current rankings and selection process, check out the live spreadsheet we’re keeping of the Olympic qualification points.

Current World Rank – Used for Seeding into the World Cup events.

AOR stands for the Adjusted Olympic Rank.  AOR measures the world cup points earned during the Olympic qualification period.  The FIE ranking is the rolling point total for the past year.  For an explanation of the Olympic qualification process, please refer to our primer: The Long and Winding Road to London 2012.