Zander Rhodes with her coach, Serge Vaskevich, in Paris.
SOUTH ORANGE, NJ – National fencing champion Zander Rhodes is in the international spotlight since she won the Gold medal in the Y14 Women’s Foil event at the prestigious Marathon Flueret in Paris, France earlier this month.
The Marathon Flueret is the world’s largest youth foil event, attracting hundreds of top level fencers from around the world. Twenty-three nations participated in the 2017 Y14 Women’s Foil event, including Russia, Italy, Japan, U.S. and Great Britain. The Marathon is aptly named given it is a two-day event with two rounds of pools on the first day, and fencers eliminated after each round.
Rhodes was seeded second overall after the first five hours of fencing. On the second day, she was seeded first after the pools, placing her well in the Direct Elimination rounds. After 10 hours of fencing, Rhodes defeated her opponent, Kamilla Ibragimova, from Russia, in the semifinal, 10-2, and then went on to win the Gold medal after defeating her US competitor, Juliana Hung, 10-0, in the finals. This was Rhodes’ first Gold medal at an international event.
Rhodes, who is in grade 8 at South Orange Middle School, trains with Jack Woods at the V fencing Club in Livingston under the tutelage of Serge Vashkevich. Woods was the first fencer to ever win the Marathon Flueret two years in a row.
Rhodes, who performed well in this event last year, owned the strip the entire weekend this year with her strength, determination, strategic thinking, and superior fencing skills.
Coach Vashkevich said, “Zander really demonstrated outstanding fencing throughout this grueling high pressure event. With the 5 a.m. starts and two very long days of fencing under pressure, it is a real test of both endurance and the highest level of fencing. I am very proud of her.”
Rhodes continued her high level fencing when she competed in the Junior Olympics in Kansas City where she placed 16th in the Junior Women’s Foil event with 230 competitors.
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