Oct. 16, 2005
Two fencers with connections to the Notre Dame program have completed competition at the 2005 World Championships in Leipzig, Germany. Current sophomore sabre Mariel Zagunis – the 2004 Olympic gold medalist – added another top trophy to her collection, combining with her three U.S. teammates to win the women’s sabre team title. The U.S. dominated the field on their march to the gold-medal stand, ultimately defeating Russia in the grand finale (45-36) to avenge the Americans’ loss in the 2004 World Championship final.
Zagunis – who also fenced on the U.S. women’s sabre team that won the 2000 World Championship title – earlier had placed ninth in the 2005 individual sabre competition, after an unlucky draw slotted her into a round-of-16 matchup with U.S. teammate Becca Ward.
Former Notre Dame fencer Andrea Ament (’05) competed as a member of the U.S. four-fencer women’s foil team that narrowly missed a spot in the quarterfinals , losing 36-34 to a talented France team that ultimately claimed the bronze medal (the U.S. went on to finish 10th). Ament earlier was placed into a tough initial grouping in the foil individual competition and failed to advance out of the pool rounds.
Zagunis combined with Ward, Sada Jacobson, Caitlin Thompson and Mariel Zagunis in dominating the field. No team scored more than 38 (of a possible 45) touches on the U.S. women during the entire competition.
The team’s march to the top started with victories over Great Britain (45-38), France (45-32) and Hungary (45-27).
The 2000 and 2005 women’s sabre titles mark the only senior World Championship fencing championships ever won by a U.S. team (in any weapon).
Ament combined with former collegiate rival Hanna Thompson (Ohio State) and youngsters Sam Nemececk and Doris Willette in narrowly missing the quarterfinals, after the 36-34 loss to France in a match that was ended by the time limit. The U.S. women’s foilists went on to defeat Kazakhstan (45-23) and Canada (45-20) before losing to Germany (45-29) in the placement rounds, for a 10th-place finish.
The women’s foil team from Korea surprised the world by winning the title over Romania, 20-19.
The earlier women’s sabre individual bouts saw Zagunis and Ward – club teammates at the Oregon Fencing Alliance – meet up in the round of 16. The 15-year-old Ward emerged with a 15-9 win that sent her on to the quarterfinals. Italy’s Alessandra Lucchino beat Thompson in the round-of-32 and later bested Ward in the quarterfinals (both 15-11). Jacobson also was upset in the quarterfinals, losing to Italy’s Ilaria Bianco (15-13).