Amanda Sirico and Team USA make history and win gold at World Championships in China
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Bowie fencer and Team USA make history and win gold at World Championships in China
WASHINGTON, July 25, 2018 – Today, Amanda Sirico of Bowie, Maryland, and Team USA made history, winning the World Championship title in Women’s Team Epee at the World Fencing Championships in Wuxi, China.
This is the first U.S. Women’s Epee Team to medal at this event, and to win a World Championship title.With this win, the team also concludes the season with not only the No. 1 world ranking for the first time ever, but the Overall World Cup title for the 2017-18 season. Each year the World Fencing Championships brings together the very top fencers from around the world to compete in individual and team events in epee, foil, or sabre.
Sirico, 22, is the youngest member of the gold medal team, which also includes three members of the 2016 Olympic team: Fellow Capitol Division member Kat Holmes of Washington, D.C., trained alongside Sirico at DC Fencers Club, as well as Chevy Chase Fencers Club, before her college career. Rounding out the team are Rio Olympians Courtney Hurley and Kelley Hurley of San Antonio, Texas.
Sirico was selected as the fourth member of the Women’s Epee Team due to her stellar results in the 2017-2018 season, including the U.S. Championship title in Division 1 Women’s Epee in April, team gold at the Pan American Championships in June, and team bronze at the Barcelona World Cup in February. She is also a rising senior at Notre Dame, she led the team to the 2018 fencing national championship.
The fencing team event structure is a round robin in which three fencers from each team (plus an alternate) face off for a total of nine bouts which last three minutes each. The first team to 45 points or the higher score at the end of nine 3-minute periods wins. Team USA advanced through five rounds to win gold against Team Korea.
Throughout the entire match, Team USA had a low-score strategy, which allows a high points ceiling as needed. With gold on the line, Sirico subbed in for Kelley Hurley in the finals bout against Team Korea. Sirico promptly won her bout against Korea’s Injeong Choi, bringing the US Team within two points of the lead (10-12). After that, Team Captain and anchor Kat Holmes garnered eight points in the final bout, clinching the win with one point in overtime, for an 18-17 win.
Said Sirico of her experience, “I was so excited that the perfect moment for me to come in arose. I had been training to go in whenever they needed me and I’m so happy that I was ready and focused for the moment. I’m so proud of my teammates and I’m so impressed by the trust that we have in each other as well as they have in me for tough moments like these.Going in for only the final was nerve wracking but I had a job to do and I’m just lucky I was prepared and revved up to go.”
Their winning attitude extends to the larger community. Both Sirico and Holmes are also involved in a pilot USA Fencing mentorship and training program to help women fencers succeed in fencing and in life.
Today’s achievement is another milestone in the history of women’s fencing. International fencing competitions have been held since 1921, but it was only in 1988 when women’s epee individual and team events were added to the World Championship program. In 1996 the International Olympic Committee added these two events to the Olympic program.
Sirico is a member of DC Fencers Club (DCFC), where she trains with DCFC Head Coach Janusz Smolenski. For 28 years, Smolenski has coached many fencers to top results at U.S. National Championships, North American Cups, and international events.
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Photo courtesy of FIE.