Fencing Gold

A trio of former Lions fencers made history this summer by propelling the four-person Team USA to its first gold medal World Foil Championship.

Nicole Ross ’13, Nzingha Prescod ’15 and Margaret Lu ’17, along with teammate Lee Kiefer, delivered the dramatic win against number 1 ranked Italy, 45–35.

“It’s so special for us because we’ve been working so hard and so long together and there’s so much love between us,” said Ross, a 2012 Olympian who has been on the national team since 2010.

The championships were held in Wuxi, China, on July 26. En route to the finals, Team USA defeated Spain, Canada and South Korea. In the championship match, the Italians led 10–4 before Ross earned a clutch victory, Prescod followed with a win to tie the score at 16–16 and Kiefer sealed the title by defeating Italy world champion Alice Volpi.

Prescod finished individually among the top eight in women’s foil, while Ross ranked in the top 16.

“We always knew that we could get there and we just had to really believe that we could do it on that day,” said Prescod, who also competed at the 2012 Olympics. “[So] why not today?”