Success at The Public Schools Fencing Championships

25 March 2025

The Public Schools Fencing Championships were held at the Lee Valley Athletics Centre in Edmonton last week from Tuesday 18th to Thursday 20th March. An army of 36 Latymerians competed and the outstanding results came from Meyra (Year 10), Julia (Upper Sixth), and Alban (Lower Sixth), who all made the quarter-finals in their events.

The competition featured eighteen events across boys and girls, divided into ‘Mount-Haes’ (Years 7-9), ‘Junior’ (Years 10-11), and ‘Senior’ (6th Form) categories. Fencers compete in two round of poules before moving to direct eliminations (DEs).

In the Girls’ Junior Foil, Meyra stormed through the first two rounds of poules, losing only one of her eight fights. This saw her placed eleventh going into the direct eliminations. In a closely-fought encounter, she prevailed 11-10, earning herself a place in the quarter-final. Unfortunately this was where Meyra came unstuck, going down 15-11 giving Meyra a commendable final position of 7th.

In the Girls’ Senior Epee, Julia won all of her fights in the first round of poules, making her exempt from the second round and placing her 7th going into the DEs. She made light work of her first two direct elimination opponents, dispatching both of them 15-9. Julia gave it her all in the quarter-final; the fencers traded hits with barely anything to separate them until Julia’s opponent established a two-hit lead that unfortunately, she could not overcome, going down 15-13, giving Julia a final position of 6th. In her last ever competition as a Latymerian, this was a fitting result for a fencer who has developed from a Year 7 beginner to an international fencer who leads the school club by example both on and off the piste and is, as a result, highly regarded by her peers. She will be missed and we wish her all the best in her post-Latymer career.

In the Boys’ Senior Sabre, Alban started slowly, winning five of his eight poule fights, putting him 24th going into the DEs, prevailing 15-9. In the last 16, finding himself 8-4 down after the first period, Alban made some minor tactical changes that saw him prevail 15-14 in a nail-biting second half to the joy of the Latymerian supporters. In the quarter-final Alban came up against a fencer from Harrow School who last year won the Junior event and represented Malaysia at the under 17 World Championships. Alban gave it his all but was fairly defeated and perhaps deserved more than the 15-5 scoreline. Alban can be very proud of his 8th place.

Various other Latymerians deserve honourable mentions. Maxi was 10th in the Boys’ Senior Foil. Tobin came 12th in the Boys’ Mount-Haes Sabre and Demir 10th in the Boys’ Senior Sabre, both fencers missing out on a place in the quarter-final by one hit; Siddhangana finished 13th in the Girls’ Senior Sabre. In the Girls’ Junior Epee, Sophia and Mia finished a round further than they did in the Mount-Haes event last year.

For many Latymerians, including some of those named above, these championships were a tale of what might have been, with small mistakes making big differences: a moment of indecision that turned a win in the DE into a defeat or a single loss in the poules that affected a DE seeding by ten or more places, leaving the fencer with a much more challenging route through the competition. For others, this was their first taste of competitive fencing outside of a school match and a new experience of the sport. For all, it was a valuable learning experience.

As always, we owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude to our coaches, Aleks Lilov and Zak Wheeler, for their unending dedication to our students, Anna Beck for all of her administrative assistance and Director of Sport Natalie Maclean, who attended the competition on Thursday to see our students in action, for her support of the fencing club.