Germany wins a strong Men’s Foil team event and the US solidifies their Olympic berth. The last European slot is up for grabs with 3 tournaments left to go.
Germany defeated Italy 45-44 to win the CIP Men’s Foil Team event. China defeated France 45-41 to take 3rd place and maintain top 4 status in the world points list.
Final Placement for the CIP Men’s Foil team event:
Rg Nom Nation Club
1 ALLEMAGNE GER
2 ITALIE ITA
3 CHINE CHN
4 FRANCE FRA
5 CORÉE DU SUD KOR
6 ESPAGNE ESP
7 RUSSIE RUS
8 BELGIQUE BEL
9 ETATS UNIS USA
10 PORTUGAL POR
11 POLOGNE POL
12 HOLLANDE NED
13 AUTRICHE AUT
14 JAPON JPN
15 HONGRIE HUN
16 EGYPTE EGY
17 DANEMARK DEN
18 GRÈCE GRE
FIE Ranks before the CIP:
Rank Pts Name Nationality Season
1 356 ITALY ITA 2003/2004
2 300 CHINA CHN 2003/2004
3 256 GERMANY GER 2003/2004
4 244 FRANCE FRA 2003/2004
5 190 POLAND POL 2003/2004
6 184 BELGIUM BEL 2003/2004
7 183 SPAIN ESP 2003/2004
8 170 USA USA 2003/2004
9 164 RUSSIA RUS 2003/2004
10 127 EGYPT EGY 2003/2004
11 120 Portugal POR 2003/2004
12 110 KOREA KOR 2003/2004
13 107 JAPAN JPN 2003/2004
14 107 AUSTRIA AUT 2003/2004
15 101 GREAT BRITAIN GBR 2003/2004
Who’s in, who’s out?
The top 4 teams make it to the Games. Those are currently:
Italy
China
Germany
France
All 4 of those teams finished in the top 4, so while the points will differ, these 4 stay in the top 4 for automatic qualification.
By zones:
Americas: The US is well ahead of Canada, and earning points with a 9th place finish helps the US. While not as good as last year’s 4th place finish, 9th gets the US to an Olympic berth but doesn’t do much for positioning.
Africa: Egypt is the only one really competing here. Egypt gets this slot.
Asia: By being in the top 4, China opens it up to another Asian country to go to Athens. Japan currently has the lead here, but Korea and Hong Kong placed higher at the 2003 World Championships. The Shanghai tournament will tell us a lot about who captures this slot.
Europe: This is the dog fight. Spain, Russia, and Belgium placed 6th, 7th, and 8th at this event and they are separated by less than 30 points. Russia, Belgium, and Poland are separated by less than 10 points. Russia and Belgium will have some strong results drop off their points list in March while Spain and Poland get to drop some sub-par results. This makes the fight for the last European slot a 4 way race that depends on a strong result in Spain in February.
There are 3 Men’s Foil World Cups left. La Coruna in Feb, Shanghai and Le Caire in March. Depending on who peaks in March, the European standings could change enough to shake it up.
As it stands today:
Automatic:
Italy
China
Germany
France
Zones:
Africa: Egypt
America: USA
Asia: Korea
Europe: Belgium
Last out: Poland (by 3 points), Japan (by 15 points)
(Edit: Russia was originally reported as having this slot, but since only 2 European tournaments can be used, they miss out on 25 points and drop to 7th in the overall rankings. Russia now trails Poland by 17 points and Belgium by 20 points for the European slot.)