(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Nearly 200 athletes are scheduled to compete in Salt Lake City from Dec. 13-15 at what is expected to be the largest women’s fencing World Cup to be held on U.S. soil in history. 

The Absolute Fencing Gear® Women’s Sabre World Cup has 188 registrants from 39 nations competing in the individual events on Friday and Saturday with 25 countries scheduled to fence in the team event on Sunday in Hall 4 at the Salt Palace Convention Center.

Individual Entrants

Team Entrants

The World Cup serves as an Olympic qualifier for both individual and team events with 30 athletes scheduled to represent Team USA as well as athletes from six continents. 

Tickets are available online at https://2019absoluteworldcup.eventbrite.com. 

Ticket Options:
Friday: $5
Saturday: $20
Sunday: $15
Saturday and Sunday Pass: $30

Competition Schedule

Friday, December 13th
10 a.m.
Pools – Preliminary Tables

Saturday, December 14th
10 a.m.
Direct Elimination T64 – T8

6 p.m.
Semis and Finals 

Sunday, December 15th
8 a.m.
Direct Elimination Rounds

2:30 p.m.
Gold Medal Final

Among the Olympic medalists expected to compete in Salt Lake are the following athletes: 

• Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.), two-time Olympic Champion and five-time Senior World Champion 
• Yana Egorian (RUS), two-time Olympic Champion and two-time Senior World Team Champion 
• Sofya Velikaya (RUS), 2016 Olympic Team Champion and eight-time Senior World Champion
• Jiyeon Kim (KOR), 2012 Olympic Champion and four-time Senior World medalist 
• Olga Kharlan (UKR), four-time Olympic medalist and six-time Senior World Champion

The top 16 individual fencers in the world as well as the top 16 teams are all scheduled to fence at the Absolute Fencing Gear® Women’s Sabre World Cup where the winner will be awarded the Korfanty Cup, sponsored by the Mariel Zagunis Women’s Sabre Fund. 

Cecilia Berder (FRA) returns to the event after winning the title at this event in January as well as in 2017 with France entering as the three-time reigning Champions at the tournament. 

All three teams who won medals at the 2019 Senior World Championships will be in attendance with gold medalist Russia, silver medalist France and bronze medalist Korea each being top contenders for gold in Salt Lake City. In the individual event, Kharlan and Velikaya won gold and silver at the 2019 Senior Worlds with Theodora Gkountoura (GRE) and Bianca Pascu (ROU) each. All four athletes will be among those to watch in Salt Lake. 

Team USA’s lineup includes both Olympic medalists and up-and-comers, including:

• Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.), two-time Olympic and five-time Senior World Champion 
• Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J.), 2016 Olympic team bronze medalist and 2014 Senior World Team Champion 
• Monica Aksamit (Matawan, N.J.), 2016 Olympic team bronze medalist 
• Eliza Stone (Chicago, Ill.), 2018 Senior World individual bronze medalist and 2014 Senior World Team Champion 
• Aleksandra Shelton (Tigard, Ore.), four-time Olympian (POL) and 2003 Senior World bronze medalist
• Francesca Russo (Wayne, N.J.), 2013 Junior World Team Champion 
• Chloe Fox-Gitomer (Portland, Ore.), 2018 Junior World team silver medalist 
• Tori Johnson (Peachtree, Ga.), 2018 Junior World team silver medalist 
• Elizabeth Tartakovsky (Livingston, N.J.), two-time Junior World team medalist and 2017 Cadet World bronze medalist 
• Chloe Gouhin (Blacklick, Ohio), 2019 Cadet World silver medalist 
• Honor Johnson (Silver Spring, Md.), 2019 Cadet World bronze medalist 
• Alexis Anglade (Alpharetta, Ga.), 2018 Cadet World bronze medalist 
• Kara Linder (Chandler, Ariz.), 2016 Cadet World Team Champion 

For more information, or to request media access to the competition, contact Nicole Jomantas, USA Fencing Director of Communications, at 719.761.7909 (cell) or N.Jomantas@usafencing.org. 

About USA Fencing

USA Fencing is the recognized National Governing Body for the sport of fencing in the United States. The organization’s mission is to serve and foster the growth, participation and development of domestic fencing at all levels and to achieve sustained international success. USA Fencing is affiliated with the Féderation Internationale d’Escrime (FIE), the international federation for fencing. 

 

A 501-c- 3 non-profit organization, USA Fencing is based out of Colorado Springs, Colo. and has a membership of more than 40,000 individuals, including grassroots, elite and veteran fencers.