Tokyo gold medalist Lee Kiefer among first U.S. fencers to qualify for Paris Olympics
Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Lee Kiefer, three-time medalist Alexander Massialas and Tokyo bronze medalist Nick Itkin are the first fencers to qualify for the U.S. team for the Paris Games.
Kiefer, a 29-year-old headed to her fourth Olympics, is ranked No. 1 in the world in foil and earned bronze medals at the world championships in 2022 and 2023.
In Tokyo, she became the third American to win Olympic fencing gold after Albertson Van Zo Post (1904) and Mariel Zagunis (2004, 2008).
Massialas, also 29 and going to a fourth Games, is fourth in the world in men's foil.
He earned individual silver at the Rio Games and team bronze in Rio and Tokyo.
Itkin, 24, qualified for his second Olympics after also being part of the bronze-medal foil team in Tokyo. Individually, he lost in the second round in Tokyo.
Since, Itkin earned individual bronze and silver medals at the last two worlds to become the first U.S. man to win an individual medal at back-to-back worlds.
Itkin, whose dad fenced in his native Ukraine and mom competed in gymnastics in Ukraine, is ranked fifth in the world.
U.S. athletes qualified for 2024 Paris Olympics
The 2024 U.S. Olympic team roster of athletes updated as they qualify.
