Kingston Fencing Club Members Win Nearly Half of The Sabre Medals at the 2016 Ontario Summer Games.

Mississauga, ON: Athletes from the Kingston Fencing Club won a total of 7 medals at the 2016 Ontario Summer Games in the individual event component: 2 Gold, 2 Silver & 3 Bronze out of a possible 16 medals which could be won in both the men’s and women’s events. In the team event, Club members won two bronze medals out of a possible 6 medals which could be won in this event

Leading the individual medal count was Esther Falkson (Kingston) with a Gold medal win in Cadet Women’s Sabre and a Silver medal in U15 Women’s Sabre. On the men’s side Aaron Olmstead (Kingston) defended his 2014 gold medal win with a second consecutive Gold medal win in Cadet Men’s Sabre over teammate Drake Johnson (Lansdowne) who brought home the Silver medal in this event. Three Bronze medals were won by Ariane Mayrand Nicol (Inverary) in Cadet Women’s Sabre while Ben Hueglin (Kingston) and teammate Fabian van der Merwe (Kingston) each medaled in Men’s U15 Sabre event.

With a Bronze medal win by Caroline Whitehead (Cutting Edge Fencing Club) Kingston in Women’s U15 Sabre, and a Bronze medal in Men’s Cadet Sabre by Hugo Clements (Loyalist Fencing Club, Belleville) fencers from the Kingston and surrounding areas won over half of the sabre medals at the Games.

In the combined team event fencers were seeded on a three person team based on their individual results on Saturday. Using the Italian system of one fencer from each weapon (Epee, Foil & Sabre) seeded onto a team they fenced to a total of 15 points rather than 45 points which is a normal team event total. Esther Falkson brought home a Bronze medal for her efforts on the women’s side, while Aaron Olmstead won a Bronze medal on the men’s side.

The final DE’s were very exciting to watch as our two male sabre titans (Aaron Olmstead & Drake Johnson) went head to head in a very fast and furious match which was eventually won by Aaron. On the women’s side, Esther Falkson, smarting from her loss in the Women’s U15 Sabre gold medal event pulled up her socks and spanked royally her opponent, who had won the gold medal earlier in the U15 event, to take home the gold medal in this event. With this said, perhaps the most exciting bout was nearly biblical in nature as 4 foot something Chase Helpard took on 6 foot plus Burke Willson (Milton, ON) in a very exciting sabre DE. Willson, an honorary Kingston Fencing Club who periodically comes to Kingston to train with our group, was taken aback by Helpard’s tenacity and was down by the first half. However, once the dust settled Willson had regained the lead and eventually won the match 15-9.

Our athletes trained very hard for the Summer Games, and their final results certainly showed that their hard work and dedication paid off. Photos of the Games can be found on our Kingston Facebook Page.

The next Ontario Summer Games will be held in London, Ontario in 2018.