Mariel Zagunis

Former Irish Fencer Zagunis Wins Bronze At London Sabre World Cup

March 2, 2011

LONDON, England – Mariel Zagunis, a former sabreuse for the University of Notre Dame fencing team, won the bronze medal this past weekend at the London Sabre World Cup. The bronze represents her second international medal of the year.

Earlier in February, Zagunis captured the gold medal at the Orleans Sabre Grand Prix for her first international medal of the year.

The top-ranked women’s sabre fencer in the world, Zagunis advanced directly to the table of 64, defeating Kata Varhelyi of Hungary in her opening match, 15-10.

She then advanced into the quarterfinals with wins over Sandra Sassine of Canada (15-11) and Chrystal Nicoll of Great Britain (15-12). The win over Nicoll marked Zagunis’ second international win over her in the month after defeating her en route to the gold medal at the Orleans Grand Prix.

Zagunis pushed through to the semifinals after securing a 15-9 win over Ekaterina Diatchenko of Russia, but then fell to Gioia Marzocca of Italy by a score of 15-12.

Along with securing the bronze in the individual table, Zagunis, along with her four teammates, helped Team USA to a seventh-place finish in team competition. The five-person squad defeated Mexico in the first round (45-28), before dropping to eventual champion China (45-39) in the quarterfinals. The squad then lost to Ukraine (45-34) in the fifth-place table before defeating Hungary (45-38) for seventh place.

–ND–