Mariel Zagunis wins World Championship

Mariel Zagunis started the day with a close match in the round of 64 against Hye Lim Kim (KOR) but found her speed and rolled through her next matches en route to winning the 2009 World Championship in Women’s Sabre. Along the way, Zagunis faced off against teammate Daria Schneider and Ukraine’s Olena Khomrova.

In the top 8 Mariel Zagunis defeated Khormrova 15-8 and dispatched France’s Vergne 15-12 in the first semi-final match. In the second semi-final match Olga Kharlan dominated with a quick attack that left Nagy searching for answers.

The gold medal bout pits Mariel Zagunis against Olga Kharlan (UKR). Kharlan lead the Ukrainian team to the team gold in Beijing while Zagunis took gold at the Athens and Beijing games in the individual event.

{sidebar id=1}Zagunis and Kharlan trade touches, but then Mariel combines pusing on the attack and pulling Kharlan short to end the first period with a commanding 8-3 lead.

Going into the second period, Kharlan is forced to take bigger risks and Zagunis settles into her preferred game. Mariel cycles through a quick attack and riposte to go up 10-3 and then wins running away 15-6.

Unfortunately for the US, the rest of the US women’s sabre squad was seeded into Zagunis’ side of the bracket. Daria Schneider upset Poland’s Aleksandra Socha 15-14 and then defeated her teammate Monica Aksamit 15-11 before falling to Zagunis 15-5. Aksamit’s first round match was another 15-14 match against US fencer Dagmara Wozniak.

Shneider finished 15th, Aksamit 20th, and Wozniak 51st. The women’s sabre team will compete on Tuesday in the team event.

Women’s Sabre World Championships Finals

Results provided by the FIE and official site: http://www.live.fie.ch/antalya/resultats/sfs-in/tableau_b8.htm

{mospagebreak title=Final Results}

Women’s Sabre World Championships: Final Rankings