Fencing’s Dershwitz ’19 Turns into Workforce USA’s First Senior International Champion in Males’s Saber

MILAN, Italy – Harvard Fencing assistant trainer and previous two-time nationwide champion Eli Dershwitz ’19 captured gold in males’s saber on the 2023 Fencing International Championships in Italy on Tuesday. With the victory, Dershwitz was Workforce USA’s first senior international champion in an match that has been part of Senior Worlds since 1922.
 
“Truthfully, it feels surreal,” Dershwitz stated to USAFencing.org. “It does not really feel find it irresistible in reality came about. Expectantly, both day after today or the day after when anyone asks me, I’m going to have idea a bit of bit higher on how one can word my ideas. However for now, I am simply grateful for everybody that helped me get right here.”
 
A local of Sherborn, Massachusetts, Dershwitz defeated 3 fighters who had been ranked Nos. 1, 2 and three on this planet, together with reigning international champion and three-time Olympic champion Aaron Szilagyi. Dershwitz discovered himself trailing Szilagyi, 10-4, within the semifinal prior to rallying for the 15-13 victory.
 
On methods to his head-to-head conflict with Szilagyi (Hungary), Dershwitz dispatched Korea’s Bongil Gu (two-time Olympic gold medalist) within the spherical of 32, International No. 3 and three-time Olympic medalist Luigi Samele of Italy within the spherical of 16, and 2019 Workforce International Champion Hansol Ha (Korea) within the quarterfinals. After advancing previous the semis, Dershwitz defeated International No. 1 and reigning Eu champion Sandro Bazadze of Georgia.
 
Dershwitz now joins Miles Chamley-Watson, who received the lads’s foil international championship in 2013, as the one U.S. males with Senior International titles within the historical past of fencing.
 
That is Dershwitz’s 2d medal on the Senior International Championships. He received a silver in 2018 in Wuxi, China, falling within the finals to Korea’s Kim Jung-hwan. He additionally received 3 particular person medals at Junior Worlds, together with a Junior International Championship in 2015, turning into the primary American guy to achieve this feat.