PARIS — Lee Kiefer and Lauren Scruggs gave the US gold and silver within the girls’s foil on Sunday as France had some other evening of frustration of their quest for a Paris Olympics fencing identify, with Japan’s Koki Kano profitable the epee ultimate.
Kiefer, who was once the primary American to win an Olympic foil gold when she triumphed 3 years in the past in Tokyo, retained the identify with a at ease 15-6 victory over her more youthful teammate Scruggs within the ultimate on the shocking Grand Palais venue.
“It is insane,” mentioned 30-year-old Kiefer. “Those 3 years had been so brief and goodbye on the similar time. On a daily basis it is been a freaking combat and I’ve such a lot of other people to thank for serving to me get right here on these days, on this second.
“It is completely ancient,” she added. “Lauren fenced wonderful this complete season and she or he merits all this appreciate.”
Scruggs, 21, surprised Italian favourite Arianna Errigo within the quarterfinals to achieve the Olympic ultimate in her first strive.
“I am tremendous satisfied, you recognize,” mentioned a tearful Scruggs, the primary Black American fencer to win an Olympic medal in a girls’s person tournament.
“In fact you at all times wish to win however I nonetheless were given a medal.”
Later, France did not ship a gold medal for the second one day in a row, with Yannick Borel dropping painfully 15-9 to Kano within the ultimate.
Borel’s defeat was once paying homage to Hong Kong’s Vivian Kong victory in opposition to France’s Auriane Mallo-Breton within the girls’s epee tournament on Saturday.
In spite of a partisan crowd on the Grand Palais cheering him on, Borel misplaced the primary two touches and not controlled to get better.
“Yannick could be very sturdy,” mentioned Kano, a crew gold medalist in Tokyo in 2021. “I will be able to win, I gained — I am more than happy.”
Mohamed Elsayed of Egypt was once awarded epee bronze after a tricky bout with Hungary’s Tibor Andrasfi, profitable 8-7 within the ultimate 2d of sudden-death.
It was once an all-North American podium within the girls’s foil tournament, with Canada’s Eleanor Harvey profitable bronze.
“I believe like I am in a dream,” Harvey instructed newshounds.
–Reuters, Particular to Box Stage Media
