4 April 2004

It was gold, silver and bronze for US Juniors in Plovdiv, Bulgaria at the 2004 Junior & Cadet World Championships on Sunday, the first day of the junior age group competitions.

US juniors Emily Jacobson (18, Dunwoody, Ga.) and Mariel Zagunis (19, Beaverton, Ore.) both stood atop the podium by the conclusion of the Junior Women’s Saber event.

Zagunis, the overall 2004 Junior World Cup Champion, downed Leonore Perrus of France 15-12 and then defeated Sophia Velikaia of Russia in the semifinals 15-9.

Jacobson also defeated her semifinal opponent, Svetlana Kormilitsyna of Russia, 15-9. In the end, Jacobson defeated Zagunis 15-6 in the final, for a one-two U.S. finish.

Earlier in the day Zagunis had an unfortunate meeting in the table of 32 with the third US junior, Caitlin Thompson (17, Portland, Ore.). Thompson, an Oregon teammate of Zagunis and also the gold medallist days ago in the Cadet saber event, lost that bout 15-8.

The third US medal winner of the day was Brendan Meyers (15, New York, N.Y.), in the Junior Men’s Foil competition. Meyers, who placed ninth in the Cadet Foil competition on Wednesday, emerged seeded ninth from the pools. He defeated Israeli fencer Maor Hatoel 15-10 to rise to the medal rounds. Meyers then lost his semifinal bout to Jun Zhu of China 15-8, who had just beaten Andrea Baldini, the 2004 Junior World Cup Champion. Zhu went on to win the gold 15-11 over Renal Ganeev of Russia.

Meyers was the only U.S. junior foilist to reach the top eight. Clinton Kershaw (16, Fresno, Calif.) reached the round of 32 before being defeated by Mateusz Wikowski of Poland 15-10. Dimitri Kirk-Gordon (18, Campbell, Calif.) was beaten in the round of 64 by Giusepe Alongi of Italy 15-12.

Stay tuned tomorrow for more Junior competition - Men’s Saber and Women’s Epee.

Junior Women’s Saber

4 April 2004

59 competitors

1 JACOBSON Emily (18, Dunwoody, Ga./Nellya Fencers)

2 ZAGUNIS Mariel (19, Beaverton, Ore./Oregon Fencing Alliance)

3T KORMILITSYNA Svetlana RUS

3T VELIKAIA Sophia RUS

5 VERGNE Carole FRA

6 ZHAO Yuanyuan CHN

7 LUCCHINO Alessandra ITA

8 PERRUS Leonore FRA

31 THOMPSON Caitlin (17, Portland, Ore./Oregon Fencing Alliance)

Junior Men’s Foil

4 April 2004

122 competitors

1 ZHU Jun CHN

2 GANEEV Renal RUS

3 KLEIBRINK Benjamin GER

3 MEYERS Brendan (15, New York, N.Y./Fencers Club)

5 SEDOV Artem RUS

6 BALDINI Andrea ITA

7 ALONGI Giuseppe ITA

8 HATOEL Maor ISR

28 KERSHAW Clinton (16, Fresno, Calif./Lucchetti Fencers)

53 KIRK-GORDON, Dimitri (18, Campbell, Calif./Lucchetti Fencers)