Team USA Takes on the World in Tokyo

During the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Team USA has the potential to being home more medals than ever before.

Now one of the world’s powerhouses in fencing, eight of the United States’ 24 fencers have won an Olympic medal and seven currently rank in the top 10 in the World Rankings.

With all six team events being contested for the first time at the Games, Team USA will send a full contingent of 18 individual fencers and four team replacement athletes with the team split evenly between returning Olympians and first-time team members who have the potential to make a splash on the world’s biggest stage.

MEN’S FOIL

All three members of Team USA competing individually rank in the top 10.

Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif. / Massialas Foundation / Notre

Dame) ranks the highest of the men’s foil fencers at No. 2. Competing at his fourth Olympic Games, the two-time Senior World bronze medalist and 2016 Olympic team bronze medalist is looking stronger than ever before. After winning two medals on the circuit prior to the pandemic, including the gold at the Torino Grand Prix, Meinhardt took momentum into Tokyo by winning gold at the Doha Grand Prix in March in the only international competition this season before the Games begin. Meinhardt’s teammate on the 2016 bronze-medal winning team and fellow San Francisco native, Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif. / Massialas Foundation / Stanford), won individual silver at the Rio Olympic Games, becoming the first U.S. foil fencer to win an individual silver medal at the Olympic Games since 1932. Now No. 5 and fencing at his third Games, Massialas won silver and bronze prior to the pandemic. Although Nick Itkin (Los Angeles, Calif. / Los Angeles International Fencing Center / Notre Dame) will be competing at his first Olympic Games, at No. 9 in the world, the junior at Notre Dame has had a meteoric rise in the last three years. Itkin won gold at the 2018 Junior World Championships before winning his first medal on the senior circuit in the fall. Now Itkin has three World Cup medals to his name, including gold at the Paris World Cup in 2019.

Three of the four members from the 2016 bronze medal-winning team return in Tokyo, including Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.), who ranks No. 4 and enters as the replacement athlete. The reigning Senior World Champions, Team USA won its first team gold in men’s foil in 2019 and looks to become the first U.S. team to win gold at the Olympic Games. Since Rio, the men’s foil team has medaled at every Worlds during the quad and currently ranks No. 1 in the world, winning three of the four World Cups in the 2019-20 season prior to the pandemic.

WOMEN’S FOIL

Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky. / Bluegrass Fencers’ Club / Notre Dame)

has been knocking on the door at the Olympic Games, taking fifth at her first Olympics in London. Currently No. 5, Kiefer ranked No. 1 during the current quad and prior to the pandemic, won three medals on the World Cup circuit. The 2011 Senior World bronze medalist looks to win the first individual women’s foil medal at her third Olympic Games in Tokyo. Kiefer’s teammate in London, Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y. / New York Athletic Club / Columbia), won three medals on the World Cup circuit to start the quad and will compete at her second Games. The 2019 Pan Am Champion took a top-16 finish in the last tournament before the pandemic. The third member of Team USA competing individually will be Jackie Dubrovich (Riverdale, N.J. / Fencer’s Underground / Columbia), who made her first Senior World Team in 2019 and will fence at her first Olympic Games.

As a team, Team USA has medaled at the last two World Championships. Three years ago, the U.S. women’s foil team won its first ever World Championship in the team event. Two of those gold medalists – Kiefer and Ross – return looking to repeat the accomplishment. The following year, Kiefer, Ross and Dubrovich earned bronze. Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif. / Mas-