{mosimage}U.S. Cadet Caitlin Thompson (17, Beaverton, Ore.) kicked off the 2004 Junior and Cadet World Championships with a bang, earning the gold in the Cadet Women’s Saber competition.
{mosimage}In her second Cadet Worlds appearance, Thompson seemingly easily sailed through the field. Though her first round was hit with a forfeit by a Venezuelan fencer, with a +12 4-0 record in the pool, she entered the table of 64 seeded third.
Her closest bout (15-14) came in the round of 16, against Flora Palu of Italy. Unfortunately, she met U.S. teammate and home clubmate Rebecca Ward (14, Portland, Ore.) while on a roll in the next bout and defeated her 15-7. From then on there was no stopping Thompson, who downed Russia’s Ekaterina Diatchenk 15-11 and polished off the gold with a 15-7 defeat of Alexandra Bujdoso of Hungary 15-7.
Ward, seeded 6th after the pools, finished 5th. The third U.S. cadet, Daria Schneider (16, Brookline, Mass.), seeded 11th after pools, was upset in her bout in the round of 32 by Korea’s Ji Hye Kwon, 15-12.
The three young American men’s foil fencers all reached the top 16 in the Cadet Men’s Foil field.
Brendan Meyers (15, New York, N.Y.) emerged from the pool round seeded first. He lost his bout in the round of 16 to 15-14 to Benoit Journet of France, who went on to win a bronze. Clinton Kershaw (16, Fresno, Calif.) and Mark Kubik (17, San Antonio, Texas) each had a record of 4-1 in the pool round, seeding them 20th and 21st, respectively. They, too, reached the round of 16 before losing their bouts. Kershaw was defeated by Dmytro Myronyuk of the Ukraine 15-10. Kubik met silver-medallist Alexander Naumenko of Russia and was defeated 15-9.
Tomorrow, more cadet competition: Men’s Saber and Women’s Epee.
Cadet Women’s Saber
1 April 2004
51 competitors
1 THOMPSON Caitlin (17, Beaverton, Ore./Oregon Fencing Alliance)
2 BUJDOSO Alexandra HUN
3 DIATCHENK Ekaterina RUS
3 STAGNI Livia ITA
5 WARD Rebecca (14, Portland, Ore./Oregon Fencing Alliance)
6 BUDNA Karolina POL
7 DANILOVA Veronika RUS
8 BLOCK Reija GER
21 SCHNEIDER Daria (16, Brookline, Mass./Pris de Fer)
Cadet Men’s Foil
1 April 2004
86 competitiors
1 KHOVANSKY Alexey RUS
2 NAUMENKO Alexander RUS
3 JOURNET Benoit FRA
3 STANEK Thomas GER
5 MEGURO Tomoshige JPN
6 MINUTO Martino ITA
7 SITDIKOV Airat RUS
8 MYRONYUK Dmytro UKR
9 MEYERS Brendan (15, New York, N.Y./Fencers Club)
12 KERSHAW Clinton (16, Fresno, Calif./Lucchetti Fencers)
13 KUBIK Mark (17, San Antonio, Texas/Salle Poujardieu)