The FIE senior circuit has started back up and with it we have several points updates as teams and individuals compete for qualification points.

The Road to Rio post outlines the qualification process for the 2016 Olympics fencing competitions. In October there are updates for Mens and Womens Foil and Saber. To further complicate things, women’s foil and men’s saber only compete in the individual events so we don’t count their team events.

Women’s Foil

Starting off on the individual events, the Cancun World Cup didn’t change too much. The Russians and Italians dominate the point standings. Thibus (FRA) won the world cup, moving up from 9th to 7th on the qualification list. Italians Volpi and Batini took 2nd and 3rd in Cancun, but are both on the outside looking in for Olympic qualification.

Italian fencers Di Francisca and Errigo are ranked #1 and #3 in qualifying points right now, with the closest teammate being Vezzali, who is 50 points behind. Since only 2 from each country go that leaves several strong Italian fencers out.

The same is true of Russia – boasting fencers at the 2nd and 5th ranking slots.

The US fencers on top right now are Nzingha Prescod (6th) and Lee Kiefer (8th). Their closest competition is Nicole Ross who sits 29 points back.

Name Nationality Zone 10/21/2015 Total Points DI FRANCISCA Elisa ITA Europe 1 216 DERIGLAZOVA Inna RUS Europe 2 213 ERRIGO Arianna ITA Europe 3 150 BOUBAKRI Ines TUN Africa 4 132 KOROBEYNIKOVA Larisa RUS Europe 5 120 PRESCOD Nzingha USA Americas 6 117 THIBUS Ysaora FRA Europe 7 107 KIEFER Lee USA Americas 8 103 JEON Hee Sook KOR Asia 9 92 GUYART Astrid FRA Europe 10 80 LE Huilin CHN Asia 11 70 MOHAMED Aida HUN Europe 12 65 NAM Hyun Hee KOR Asia 13 63 LYCZBINSKA Hanna POL Europe 14 59 VAN ERVEN GARCIA Saskia Loretta COL Americas AM1 52 GOLUBYTSKYI Carolin GER Europe EU1 40 MOHAMED Noura EGY Africa AF1 39 GIMENEZ Isis VEN Americas AM2 39 KHELFAOUI Anissa ALG Africa AF2 36 SHAITO Mona LIB Asia AS1 28 LIN Po Heung HKG Asia AS2 27 WOHLGEMUTH Olivia AUT Europe EU2 24

Men’s Sabre

Some notable fencers are also paying the price of not being the top fencer on a good team. Aldo Montano (ITA) sits about 3 points outside of the top-14, and since Curatoli is ahead of him, that puts Montano at risk. 2 US fencers are in a good position to qualify: Daryl Homer (6th) and Eli Dershwitz (10th).

Russia, Korea, and Germany all have fencers that could be in position to qualify but those fencers suffer from being the 3rd ranked fencer on that team.

Name Nationality Zone Total Points DOLNICEANU Tiberiu ROU Europe 198 YAKIMENKO Alexey RUS Europe 166 GU Bongil KOR Asia 156 SZILAGYI Aron HUN Europe 151 KIM Junghwan KOR Asia 141 HOMER Daryl USA Americas 126 HARTUNG Max GER Europe 125 SZABO Matyas GER Europe 111 KOVALEV Nikolay RUS Europe 90 DERSHWITZ Eli USA Americas 87 POLOSSIFAKIS Joseph CAN Americas 76 DECSI Tamas HUN Europe 76 CURATOLI Luca ITA Europe 72 ABEDINI Mojtaba IRI Asia 68 AGRESTA Renzo BRA Americas 64 ANSTETT Vincent FRA Europe 59 AMER Mohamed EGY Africa 57 BUIKEVICH Aliaksandr BLR Europe 54 APITHY Yemi Geoffrey BEN Africa 44 BUSTAMANTE Ricardo Alberto ARG Americas 33 SUN Wei CHN Asia 31 VU Thanh An VIE Asia 27

Team Events

The team events qualify fencers based on the team rankings. The top 4 in the world go and then the top team in each zone. To qualify a team must be in the top 16 of the current FIE team standings.

Women’s Sabre

Despite a horrible finish, taking 11th after an opening round loss to the Dominican Republic, the US team sits at 4th in the team qualification standings. The next closest team in the Americas zone to the US is Mexico, which is over 50 points behind.

France and the USA both dropped in their qualification rankings from 1st and 2nd to 3rd and 4th. Overtaking them are Russia, now at #1, and Ukraine, now at #2.

Italy is taking over the African zonal slot from Tunisia as Tunisia is outside of the top-16.

Qualifying Name Nationality Zone Pts 1 RUSSIA RUS Europe 292 2 UKRAINE UKR Europe 248 3 FRANCE FRA Europe 208 4 USA USA Americas 207 AS KOREA KOR Asia 180 EU POLAND POL Europe 172 AF ITALY ITA Europe 168 AM MEXICO MEX Americas 143

Men’s Team Foil

The big move from the San Jose world cup was Japan’s silver medal finish. That put Japan ahead of Korea for the zonal qualification slot. The US team sits at 5th which is a solid lead for the zonal qualification spot from the Americas. Brazil has the option to use their host nation entries for the team event.

Rank Name Nationality Zone Pts 1 RUSSIA RUS Europe 252 2 FRANCE FRA Europe 236 3 ITALY ITA Europe 236 4 CHINA CHN Asia 224 AM U.S.A. USA Americas 196 AS JAPAN JPN Asia 178 AF EGYPT EGY Africa 158 EU GERMANY GER Europe 146 HOST BRAZIL BRA Americas 129

Showing my work: Current Google Sheet links to points tracking: