Olympic Medalist leads new team to top 4 World Cup Finish

Press release January 16, 2025

Canada’s Olympic medallist, fencer Eleanor Harvey, is on a roll leading the Canadian women’s foil fencing team to a top 4 finish on Sunday’s World Cup in Hong Kong.

After an easy first-round victory over the hometown team Hong Kong (45-27) the Canadians met with world ranked #3 Japan. It was sweet revenge as the Canadians soundly beat Japan 42-36 moving past that heart-breaking overtime loss to the Japanese for the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics. 

It might not make losing Olympic Bronze any easier but it does cement Canada as a powerhouse country in women’s fencing. The team, led by Head Coach Alex Martin ( based in Richmond, B.C.), is now a medal threat at each event, in spite of a shifting roster of athletes due to academic commitments. “Even without our Olympic team fully present, our young athletes rose to the occasion and showed their potential to win against the best teams in the world.” 

After losing in the semifinals to the world-ranked #2 Team USA (45-28) the Canadians faced off against France for the bronze medal. In spite of Eleanor Harvey rallying the team with an 11-6 victory in her last match, it wasn’t enough and France won the bronze medal with a score of 42-39.

Balancing her huge competitive drive with the wisdom of her experience, Eleanor remained upbeat, “While I’m disappointed to lose the bronze medal bout, I’m optimistic that when we have our full team back we will be able to pull off some great wins!” 

The rest of Canada has no doubt. 

The team was made up of two-time Olympians Jessica Guo (finishing 10th out of 191 competitors) Eleanor Harvey (finishing 18th out of 191 competitors) and newcomers Nadia Hayes and Yuqiao Song. 

Their next World Cup is in Turin, Italy on February 2.