(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) — They’re heading to Charlotte with goals, dreams and a competitive spirit forged over months of practice in their home clubs and competitions around the world. These fencers from across the nation — some 1,843 in all — will gather April 21–24 at the Charlotte Convention Center for the Division I/Parafencing National Championships and April North American Cup.
For these fencers, the event is a chance to test themselves on the national stage against athletes from 33 different states and the District of Columbia.
The four-day event will crown champions in the top fencing classification, known as Division I, where five of the six reigning national champions are back to defend their titles. National championships are also on the line in Parafencing and the Division I team event. In other classifications — including Division II, Junior and Cadet — athletes will compete for medals and to improve their national ranking.
The stakes are high for fencers in Division I. Each season, these fencers compete for points at national and international tournaments based on their performance at those events. The fencers with the most points in their weapon (epee, foil or saber) qualify to represent Team USA at international tournaments. This event in Charlotte is the final domestic event at which these senior-level athletes can earn points toward qualification for this summer’s World Fencing Championships in Cairo, Egypt.
The tournament field is packed with 17 Olympians and Paralympians as well as a number of world champions, national champions and NCAA champions.
Those expected to compete include:
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Fifteen Olympians and Paralympians who competed in Tokyo, including three of the four members of the U.S. men’s foil team that took home bronze medals from the Tokyo Games: Nick Itkin, Alexander Massialas and Gerek Meinhardt.
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Five of the six 2022 NCAA individual fencing champions: Gabriel Feinberg (men’s epee, Ohio State), Ashton Daniel (men’s foil, Columbia), Filip Dolegiewicz (men’s saber, Harvard), Maia Weintraub (women’s foil, Princeton) and Elizabeth Tartakovsky (women’s saber, Harvard).
- Five of the six reigning Division I national champions: Nick Itkin (men’s foil), Colby Harley (men’s saber), Hadley Husisian (women’s epee), May Tieu (women’s foil) and Chloe Fox-Gitomer (women’s saber).