O Canada rang out in Egypt this weekend, as athletes gathered from around the world at the Cairo Foil World Cup Championship where Eleanor Harvey made Canadian history, yet again, winning Canada’s first-ever World Cup gold medal in women’s foil.
Harvey has been inching closer to this victory since her bronze medal performance at the Paris Olympics. This year alone, she has amassed 4 medals in 4 World cups, finally getting the gold on Saturday, March 7.
Harvey, known for being great under pressure and often winning in overtime, took a “no drama” approach, dominating each match. Winning her first match 15-2 against Zhuang from China she then faced 5 consecutive matches with the world’s strongest foil fencing country: Team Italy. Harvey, systematically meeting and beating Italian after Italian, including world-ranked #2 Martina Favaretto, was overjoyed with her victory.
Coach Alex Martin gave all the credit to Eleanor, saying “achieving this milestone is a testament to Eleanor’s work ethic and dedication to continuous self-improvement. Hearing our national anthem was a particularly special moment.”
Eleanor said, “There have been so many times that I’ve stood on the podium listening to other anthems, this time it felt so good to hear it was ours. I was leaving on a win and I’ve never experienced that at this level before.”
In two weeks Eleanor Harvey will once more “stand en guarde” for Canada at the Grand Prix World Cup Lima, Peru on March 21.
David Howes
Executive Director
Canadian Fencing Federation
ed@fencing.ca
www.fencing.ca