Junior & Cadet Worlds Day 6: Underdog U.S. Junior Men's Foil Team Wins Gold
Published
Team USA's Junior Men's Foil squad entered Day 6 of the 2026 Junior & Cadet World Championships seeded ninth. They left it as world champions, having beaten four teams ranked inside the top eight.
Team USA's Junior Men's Foil squad entered Day 6 of the 2026 Junior & Cadet World Championships seeded ninth. They left it as world champions, having beaten four teams ranked inside the top eight.
The roster
- Peter Bruk (Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy, UNC)
- Roy Graham (Jovanovic Fencing, Harvard)
- Castor Kao (Star Fencing Academy, Yale)
- Luao Yang (Renaissance Fencing Club)
Four top-eight teams, one title
The path from the ninth seed to the top of the podium:
- Spain — 45–21
- Hungary, the No. 8 seed — 45–31
- China, the No. 1 seed — 45–40
- Great Britain, the No. 5 seed — 45–37
- France, the No. 6 seed — 45–31 in the final
The China bout was the tightest of the five, a five-touch win over the top seed in the quarterfinal round of the draw.
Back on top after a difficult year
The U.S. won Junior Men's Foil team gold in 2024 at Riyadh — a squad that included Daniel Zhang, whom this team's members credited as a mentor. In 2025 at Wuxi, the Americans finished 17th. Going from 17th to world champion in a single season is the sort of swing that only happens when a team keeps its development plan through a bad result.
Junior Women's Foil team takes bronze
The Junior Women's Foil team came in as the top seed and finished with bronze:
- Jaelyn Liu (Star Fencing Academy / Fencing Institute of Texas)
- Caterina Fedeli (Epic Fencing Club)
- Ella Calise (Tim Morehouse Fencing Club)
- Katerina Lung (Moe Fencing Club, Columbia)
Liu came into the team event off her historic individual Cadet–Junior foil double earlier in the championships.
Why seeding matters less than families think
A ninth seed means a harder bracket, not a lower ceiling. Team events reward depth: four fencers who can each hold a leg beat three stars and a weak link. That is why we build our competitive saber groups around consistent squad-wide conditioning and tactics rather than around one fencer.
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Official USA Fencing source: Junior & Cadet Worlds Day 6: Underdog Junior Men's Foil Team Claims World Title, Women Earn Bronze in Memorable Day for Team USA — published April 6, 2026.
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