Two-time Olympian and former number one world ranked fencer Keeth Smart captured the silver medal this weekend in Budapest, Hungary. Smart defeated many of the world’s top fencers along the way, including the number 6th ranked fencer, Yakimenko of Russia, the number 15th ranked Pillet of France and number 18th ranked Dumitrescu of Romania before falling to the 5th ranked Nemcsik of Hungary. The bout took place in front of close to a thousand spectators cheering for the home-town favorite and 2004 Olympic Silver medalist Nemcsik.
Following two-years of limited training and competing due to work, Smart is back training and his game is rounding back into peak form. Smart has reached at least the round of 16 in 7 straight competitions dating back to a top-8 result in May, 2007 in Venezuela. Smart’s other finishes include 13th at the Grand Prix in Athens, Greece, a 14th place finish at the 2007 World Championships in St. Petersburg, Russia and a gold medal at the Pan American Zonal Championships in Montreal. This result jumps Smart to a world ranking of 8th and puts him a strong position to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.
Four-time National team member Tim Morehouse also continues to post consistently strong and career high results. Morehouse finished 21st in Athens, Greece last weekend and then advanced to the round of 16 in Budapest, Hungary with an 11th place finish this weekend. Morehouse has now reached at least the top-32 in 9 straight competitions dating back to the Grand Prix in Padua, Italy in May, 2007 and his run includes a 15th place finish at the World Championships in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2007 and 2 quarter finals results in Kish Island, Iran and Istanbul, Turkey in 2008. Morehouse is currently ranked 12th in the world.
Olympic team qualification in Men’s saber remains wide-open with Smart and Morehouse leading the pack amongst the 8 fencers who can compete in the qualifying tournaments. With 3 world cups and US Nationals remaining a lot can still change. 2004 Olympic team members Ivan Lee and Jason Rogers, along with and Ben Igoe, are in very close contention for the 3rd and 4th spots and former US National team members James Williams, Tim Hagamen along with Patrick Ghattas aren’t far behind. The men will be competing again at the Grand Prix in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on February 22nd.
In terms of team qualification, the US men continue to finish ahead of zonal rivals Canada and Venezuela with a 10th place result in Athens, Greece and a 9th place result in Budapest, Hungary. The team looks like its in a strong position to qualify with only 2 team qualifying events remaining, however, in order to again contend for a medal in Beijing the men will need to improve their results and advance deeper into the competitions. The US men’s team is currently ranked 10th in the world.