Gerek Meinhardt came just one touch short in a dramatic comeback in the men’s foil team’s top 16 match against #8 seed Japan. Behind 35-28, the anchor for this young US men’s foil team scored 16 touches against Japan’s closer (reported to be Chida) but could not close out the final touch as Japan advanced 45-44 to the round of 8.
[NOTE: The official FIE scoresheet differs from 1st person accounts of the bout. Because of this we mistakenly had Getz and Ota reported in the final men’s foil bout for US vs. Japan.]
A reconstituted US women’s sabre team failed to live up to their #3 seed, losing in the round of 8 to the more experienced French team. The French women’s sabre squad had also defeated the US team in the 2007 World Championships. Mariel Zagunis was the only fencer on the team to fence for the US team that won the bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Games.
The US women easily handled Tunisia 45-34 but lost to #6 seed France 45-34 in the round of 8. The US then beat Germany 45-33 before losing the 5th place bout to Italy 45-40.
France went on to the gold medal bout and lost to the Ukraine 45-38.
In men’s foil, the US team took down Moldova 45-26 before losing to Japan. In the placement bracket, the US team closed out their day with wins against Korea (45-43), Spain (45-29) and Austria (45-35.)
The gold medal men’s foil bout pitted Italy against Germany. The Italian team prevailed 45-41.
