Women's Epee Grabs a Top-10 Finish in Paris

PARIS – Beneath the grandeur of Paris’s Grand Palais, the Team USA women’s epee fencers danced along the piste in team competition. They would take seventh place, losing to Poland and Korea before defeating Egypt, 44-30.

Underdogs in their first match to third-seeded Poland, USA’s three first-time Olympians didn’t balk from a challenging debut. The team of Anne Cebula, Hadley Husisian, and Margherita Guzzi Vincenti took the piste as the sixth-ranked team Tuesday afternoon, and Kat Holmes joined them as a substitute in bout nine to make a full quartet. 

Cebula and Husisian competed in the individual epee contests earlier this week, each of them winning one bout before being eliminated in closely contested matchups in the round of 16. Having acclimated to Olympic competition, they entered the intensity of the team event.

As the sixth-seeded team in the tournament, USA gave Poland a challenging initial contest. The American fencers led the match all the way through bout eight, but lost the match due to an impressive bout nine from Poland’s Martyna Swatowska-Wenglarczyk in which she scored seven points to overcome USA’s lead and give Poland the win, 31-29.

USA would go on to compete against the No. 2 seed, Korea, which was eliminated from medal contention by No. 7 seed France. The French team rallied behind the home crowd to complete the upset – and another after that, defeating Poland to earn a chance to fence for the gold medal – and send Korea to the USA’s piste.

Holmes stepped up for USA against the formidable foe, entering the piste for bout nine down 13 points to Korea. She would go on to score 19 points in the final bout, bringing the American team within six points of Korea after facing a 13-point deficit. USA would still fall in the match, however, 45-39.

The third and final matchup for USA women’s epee team took place on the red piste of the Grand Palais against Egypt, the eighth-seeded team in the tournament. The fencing was close throughout the beginning of the contest, and USA was up three points, 14-11, through the first four bouts.

Over the next five, USA outscored Egypt 30-19 to earn the victory and seventh place in the tournament, 44-30.

Team USA has just one medal in the history of women’s team epee contests at the Olympic games, won in 2012 by a team that included Courtney Hurley, Kelley Hurley, Maya Lawrence and Susie Scanlan. The event has been included in the Olympics just seven times since 1996, excluding 2008 due to an IOC decision to remove some team events from the Olympic program.

Madie Chandler is writing for Team USA as a graduate student in the Sports Capital Journalism Program at Indiana University Indianapolis.