PARIS – Eleanor Harvey will compete for Canada’s first-ever Olympic fencing medal after advancing to the semifinals in the women’s foil individual event at the Paris Olympics.
Harvey moved on to the medal round after a spirited 15-14 come-from-behind victory over fourth-seeded Italian Martina Favaretto in Sunday’s quarterfinals.
Favaretto got off to a strong start in the match, frequently backing Harvey down and aggressively scoring points to lead 5-2 after the first period.
The Italian continued to press the advantage and went up 10-4 midway through the second frame. But Harvey battled back with five straight points and cut the lead to 10-9 heading into the third and final period.
With the score tied 14-14, Harvey hit Favaretto with a lunge. After a video review with both fencers appealing to the judges to be awarded the decisive point, Harvey was named the winner.
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With a top-four finish guaranteed, Harvey “will post the best ever Olympic result for a Canadian in any individual fencing event,” wrote Team Canada in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Canadian fencers, not known for contending for Olympic medals, have been making waves in Paris.
On Saturday, Fares Arfa of Laval, Que., upset three-time defending Olympic champion Aron Szilagyi of Hungary in men’s sabre competition before narrowly losing to eventual gold medallist Oh Sang-uk of South Korea in the quarterfinals. That was the best Olympic result by a Canadian fencer until Harvey did at least one better a day later.
Earlier, Harvey beat Poland’s Julia Walczyk-Klimaszyk 14-6 in the Round of 16 and China’s Wang Yuting 12-8 in the opening round. She will next face Lauren Scruggs of the United States.
The 29-year-old Harvey, from Hamilton, made her Olympic debut in 2016.
She was a silver medallist in both the individual and team foil events in her third Pan Am Games last year in Santiago, Chile.
In other Round of 16 results, Toronto’s Jessica Guo was defeated 15-11 by Scruggs and Yunjia Zhang, also from Toronto, fell 15-5 to Hungary’s Flora Pasztor.
Also on Sunday, Nicholas Zhang of Richmond, B.C., lost 15-11 to Venezuela’s Grabiel Lugo in the opening round of the men’s épée.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28, 2024.