Jolie Korfonta Wins Team Bronze at Junior World Fencing Championships
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
McLean Fencer Wins Team Bronze at Junior World Fencing Championships
April 10, 2026
Washington, D.C. – Jolie Korfonta of McLean, Va., scored the winning touch to take Team Bronze in the Junior Team Women’s Epee category yesterday at the Junior and Cadet Fencing World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “Junior Worlds” features more than 1,600 athletes from 109 countries representing the culmination of the 2025-26 Junior and Cadet season. Korfonta trains with Coaches Janusz Smolenski and Byron Neslund at DC Fencers Club in Silver Spring, Maryland and Robert Suchorski at Savage Fencing Club.
The Junior Women’s Epee team of Jolie Korfonta (DC Fencers Club, Savage Fencing Club), Natalya Cafasso (Olympia Fencing Center), Regina Lee (Swords Fencing Studio), and Leehi Machulsky (Academy of Fencing Masters, Princeton University) earned bronze — extending Team USA’s Junior Women’s Epee Team medal streak to five consecutive years.
Team USA finished the 2026 Junior and Cadet Fencing World Championships in Rio with 13 medals — matching the program’s output from last year’s championships in Wuxi, China, and reaffirming the United States’ standing as one of the world’s premier fencing nations at the Junior and Cadet level.
Jolie recently shared some DCFC shoutouts to her coaches, training partners, and clubmates in a recent USA Fencing profile. “I want to thank everyone at DCFC who has supported me this year. … Everyone at the club has been extremely kind and encouraging, and have been a major part of my success,” she noted.
Korfonta, 18, a senior at McLean High School in Virginia, has had a great season, garnering gold at the Cairo Junior World Cup, team silver at the Burgos World Cup, and an individual silver at the Junior Olympics. This fall, she continues her fencing career as a member of Harvard University’s Division 1 Fencing Team.
DCFC has trained numerous young competitors who have earned spots to represent team USA at Junior Worlds, Pan American Championships, Senior World Championships, and the Olympics. They include:
2026 – Chelsea Chi, GOLD, Junior Women’s Epee individual and team events, Pan American Championships (Bogota, COL)
2025 – Sophia Jakel, BRONZE, Junior Team Women’s Epee, Junior World Championships, (Wuxi, CHN)
2024 – Kat Holmes (OLY), Hadley Husisian (OLY), Senior Women’s Epee, Paris Olympics
2022 – Faith Park, Hadley Husisian – BRONZE, Junior Team Women’s Epee; Justin Haddad – SILVER, Junior Team Men’s Epee (Dubai, UAE)
2019 – Justin Haddad – GOLD, USA Fencing Junior Olympics (Denver, CO)
2018 – Amanda Sirico, Kat Holmes – Senior Women’s Team GOLD, Senior World Championships (Wuxi, CHN)
2016 – Amanda Sirico, BRONZE, Junior Team Women’s Epee, Junior World Championships (Rio de Janeiro, BRA)
About fencing
Modern sport fencing consists of competition in three weapons: foil, epee, and sabre. In epee, the entire body is the target. Fencing competitions in all three weapons usually consist of two rounds of bouting. In the first round of “pools,” 6 to 8 fencers compete in a round-robin of 5-touch/3 minute bouts. Pool results inform the seeding of the next round, Direct Elimination (aka “DEs”). These elimination bouts are 10 touch/6 minute bouts in the veteran category. Winners of DE rounds advance to the table of 64, 32, 16, semifinals, and finals.
About DC Fencers Club
For more than 30 years, DC Fencers Club (DCFC) in Silver Spring, Md. has consistently produced national and international champions. We polish the skills of fencers who strive to compete at the highest level, and we encourage fencers of all ages and ability levels. For more information on classes, camps, and lessons, visit us at www.dcfencing.com or follow us on Instagram and Facebook.
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