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March 2004. In March 2004, St. Petersburg, Russia, hosted a Grand Prix World Cup for foil. With the Olympics fast approaching, this tournament was a chance for fencers to qualify, or at least finish the season strong. The overall fencing talent represented hundreds of world cup placements, and the "last-train-to-Athens" feel generated enough performance pressure that a deep-sea fish would implode in a succulent red mist.
You can purchase the DVD of the St. Petersburg 2004 World Cup at the Fencing.Net Store
Perhaps because of this, the finals were dominated by fencers who already knew where they would be on August 2004. Cassara, Gruchala, Guyart, Mohammed and Trillini, these athletes show up in World Cup finals again and again. No World Cup tournament would be complete without them. (The normally omnipotent Vezzali sat this one out in 9th place; her line on the results list positively vibrates with unanswered questions.)
But new names emerged in St. Peterburg. Slawomir Mocek of Poland was present as a very strong and interesting fencer. In Golubitsky's newest DVD, he was a featured opponent in the 2001 Venice World Cup semi-final, however he's been fencing for a while -- second in the 1999 European Championships, third in 2002. In the 2000 Olympics, he was knocked out (by Germany's Richard Breutner) just before the quarter-finals. He's good enough to place, and experienced enough to be dangerous.
Serguei Tikhonov (or Sergey Tihonov, Russian names are never spelled the same twice) was a positively new face. To enter the semi-finals he beat Russia's foil Pozd, Viatcheslav Pozdniakov. Tikhonov was 59th in Vienna (Dec 2003), 51st in Seoul (Feb 2004), and 29th in Bonn (May 2004), so he's stronger than most club fencers and getting better -- but he's still not a first pick for world domination (36th in points). He was fencing above himself in this tournament, with the St. Petersburg audience wildly cheered his every touch, him being the only Russian in the finals.
Also making an appearance in was Margherita Granbassi, the secret third Italian women's foilist, 9th in World point standings. She was 24 years old in March 2004, and she has a very promising career should she ever get out from under Vezzali's and Trillini's shadow.
Next: Men's Foil
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