Epee Fencer Leonora Mackinnon Finishes Top 8 In first World Cup Tokyo Qualification Event of the Season

Canadian Fencing Federation – This weekend, Tallinn, Estonia, hosted a World Cup for Senior Women’s Epee that saw fencers participate in both individual and team events. Seven Canadian athletes competed, with the top fencer being Leonora Mackinnon of Newbury, England, who finished 6^th out of over 270 participants. Mackinnon is the first Canadian top 8 performance in Women’s Epee in a World Cup or Grand Prix since Sherraine Schalm in May 2010 at the Grand Prix in Nankin, China.  The event is part of the Olympic Qualification process for Tokyo 2020.

In competition, Mackinnon won all of her bouts in the pool stage which allowed her a bye to the table of 64. In that round, Mackinnon beat Paraguay’s Montserrat Viveros 15-12. Mackinnon next faced Kelley Hurley of the United States, beating her 15-11. In the table of 16’s, Young Mi Kang of Korea fell to Mackinnon 15-9.

Leonora saw her first defeat of the tournament in the Quarter Finals (8’s), falling 15-11 to China’s Yiwen Sun. Sun went on to lose to Ana Maria Popescu of Romania, who finished first at the World Cup. Mackinnon is currently ranked 40^th in the world and will be competing next at the World Cup in Havana in January 2020.

In addition to competing in the individual event, Mackinnon was joined by Ariane Leonard (St. Lambert, QC), Alexanne Verret (Quebec, QC), and Emma von Dadelszen (Vancouver, BC) in the Senior Women’s Epee team event at the World Cup in Tallinn. The Canadian team beat zone competitors Brazil 45-31 in the table of 32s, however lost to China in a close battle that ended 45-42 in the round of 16, and finished in 16^th place overall Canada currently holds a spot in the Tokyo epee women’s team competition as the top team from the Americas.  The USA is currently ranked top four giving the Americas a second berth for the next top team.
Canada’s top Men’s Foil athletes will be in action next weekend in their first World Cup of this season in Bonn, Germany while Canada’s junior men’s epee athletes will be competing in a World Cup in Riga, Latvia.