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Soren Thompson - Max Heinzer (Photo: Oscar Larsson)
4 fencers left!
At 15.30, the first semifinal will take place on the podium. The first semifinal is between Gustin, who beat Gabor Boczko in a very tight match, and Soren Thompson, who beat Max Heinzer 15-7. The American was in the lead almost troughout the entire bout and eased home the victory when Heinzer was forced to attack.
In the other semi, we will see Fabian Kauter and Novosjolov. Kauter beat Guojie Li, who seemed tired, with the score 15-6 and Novosjolov was also very dominant in his bout against Martin Schmitt, who he beat 15-5.
Right now, the preparations are under way and we are well on time to start at 15.30 as planned.
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Ready for the quarterfinals
The Norwegian's dream ended after Martin Schmitt took control early and never really gave Piasecki a chance. Schmitt will now face Nikolai Novosjolov.
Quite surprisingly to me, the only French fencer left in this is Ronan Gustin, who beat Matteo Tagliariol after a great match. He will face Gabor Boczko, who won a sudden death against Korean Jin Sun Jung, 11-10.
We have also two Swiss fencers in the quarterfinals. Max Heinzer gave Confalonieri a complete lesson as he won 15-6 and showed why he is highly ranked these days. Heinzer will now face Thompson, USA, who beat Ruben Limardo in a great match.
Fabian Kauter is the other Swiss fencer in quarterfinals after a thriller against Yannick Borel. Borel was in front 14-12 before Kauter turned it all around and won after some spectacular action. You could feel the disappointment in Borel's mind when he left the piste. Kauter is going up against Guojie Li on the green piste.
The quarterfinals will begin at about 14.00 CET.
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Last 32 have become the last 16
Just as he hoped, Bartosz Piasecki beat Motyka and is now through to the last 16 where he will go up against Martin Schmitt, who beat Igor Reyzlin 15-12.
The champion of 2003, Eric Boisse, is out after losing to Pavel Sukhov, Russia. Sukhov is now on the red piste fencing NIkolai Novosjolov, who is showing some great skills today.
The Swiss fencers are also having a good day. Both Fabian Kauter and Max Heinzer are in the last 16 and will meet Yannick Borel (Kauter) and Diego Confalonieri.
As I said before, I really recommend you to visit live.challengebernadotte.org to watch the action live.
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How about that?!
Well, who would have thought!? Norwegian youngster Bartosz Piasecki showed no respect as he sent Gauthier Grumier home after beating the French 15-10. Grumier was never even close and Piasecki only gave away one single hit.
When speaking to Bartosz after the bout, he was, of course, very happy:
- I was very surprised that he didn't really do anything. I thought that he would do something else in the second period, but he never did anything.
He was also fast at mentioning the fact that he has won nothing yet, as it's a big difference winning two bouts instead of just the first one.
- I really have to refocus right now, and I hope I can beat him.
*****
We are now entering the DE32 and we have some great matches going on right now, so tune in on live.challengebernadotte.org to watch the action.
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No Swedish fencers left
Philip von Platen was the first of the Swedes to deal with his top class opponent. Unfortunately, Monsieur Lucenay probably knew what happened to Novosjolov last year, and showed great focus and never gave Philip a chance. The French won it comfortably, 15-8. The other Swede, Vincent Alston, was up against Pelletier, Canada, and was as close as 12-12 before Pelletier hit three straight touches. Although, Vincent should be happy with his fencing today.
Speaking of Novosjolov, he was a completely different fencer this morning compared to last year, when he came as World no. 1 and lost the first bout of the day and went home. Now, he was really filled with adrenaline and really gave it all as he beat Kyoung Doo Park from South Korea. Final score 14-12.
Another bout that ended by time runing out was the one between Tourchine and Dong. Dong hit the first touche of the match with only 10 (!) seconds remaining. Tourchine was now in a hurry, and eventually, Dong won it 3-1.
Weston Kelsey, ranked as number 5, is out after fellow countryman Thompson beat him 9-8 via sudden death. Kelsey is, thus far, also the only one of the top 10 ranked fencers to be eliminated at this stage. Alfredo Rota, ranked no. 12, was eliminated by Guojie Li, who came from 13-14 to win it 15-14 with two great attacks. The equaliser was well prepared and hit Rota's foot, and the last one was a great flêche.
Right now, unfortunately, Alexey Tikhomirov seem to have injured his ankle in the match against Gustin. He is though returning to the piste for the last 15 seconds, trailing by 6-9, trying to get some fast hits, but couldn't come back to equalise. Gustin won it 10-9.
Now it's time for some late breakfast. I'll be back in a moment.
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Saturday - a summary
It began really slow with the poules and there was never that really intense feeling in the hall until we entered the direct elimination.
The DE began with a big bout in the first round as Bogdan Nikishin beat Benjamin Steffen and sent the Swiss out of the competition without any World Cup points at all. Nikishin was later eiminated by Bas Verwijlen, who beat the Ukrainian in the last bout of the day. It was great to see the Dutch stand and scream out his energy.
Former World champion, Anton Avdeev, was, surprisingly, eliminated today after losing to Keisuke Sakamoto, Japan, who put up a great performance and won 15-12. Another big name who is out is Jose Luis Abajo, who had 10-9 against Kyoung Doo Park, but the Korean hit five straight touches and won 15-9.
*****
Tomorrow, we will see both Vincent Alston (vs. Pelletier) and Philip von Platen (vs. Lucenay) on the pistes. Philip beat Jan Tivenius quite comfortably in the end, after getting a small lead in the last minute and forcing Jan to go forward, while Vincent is probably more tired after his match against Skorobogatov. Vincent ended the bout with what you could call a crazy attack, almost completely unprepared, with seven seconds remaining and in front 14-13. There was though a big sigh of relief when Vincent's green light was lit.
Carl Frisell, the fourth swede in the last round today, lost a real thriller against Alexanin, Kazakhstan. 15-14 and Carl's hopes to copy last year's performance was gone.
*****
So, what is there to look forward to? Well, quite a lot. You can find the entire tableau here. I will be keeping my eyes on already at 8.30 when Philip von Platen will try to beat Lucenay, and after that we have our other Swede, Vincent, who is up against Pelletier at about 8.45.
Later we have Paolo Pizzo - Keisuke Sakamoto, Ulrich Robeiri - Seung Hwa Jung and Guojie Li - Alfredo Rota, just to name a few.
We won't be bored, trust me.
Now, I'm off for today.
Cheers all, I hope you join me tomorrow.
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Full throttle
We are happy to announce that we have at least one swede in the final 64 after Philip von Platen beat Ghijs, Belgium, after being behind throughout the bout before equalising and later winning in sudden death. Philip will now go up against Jan Tivenius in the last round of DE.
Unfortunately we lost some of our other Swedish fencers, as Viktor Johansson, Robin Kase, Erik Bergdahl and Karl Harmenberg all lost their elimination bouts. Still left of the swedes are Carl Frisell (vs Alexanin), Vincent Alston (vs. Skorobogatov), and of course Tivenius and Philip von Platen.
Finnish youngster Alexander Lahtinen was close to make today's biggest comeback after equalising against Sten Priinits (from 9-3 to 10-10), but the Estonian won it in sudden death. Portuguese Videirais also out after losing to another Estonian, Juri Salm.
Now I'm off to the hall again, hopefully to see some great stuff.
See you soon!
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Finally...
It's a little late (approx. 30 min), but we are now done with the poules and just entered the Direct Elimination.
Some extra disappointed fencers are eliminated, like Dennis Bade and Ali Yaghoubian, who I really expected to see in the DE. Otherwise there aren't any major upsets at all, in my opinion.
Fun though that a guy like Viktor Johansson has won 3 bouts and are now waiting for his match to begin. Another fun thing is that if Philip von Platen wins his first DE, we are guaranteed to have one Swedish fencer in the 64, as he will meet whoever wins between Lars Lindblad and Jan Tivenius, if I'm not totally wrong.
And in this second, Erik Bergdahl lost to Stephan Rein, Germany. 15-14 and Bergdahl is out. Also, Blaszyck (France) is through after beating Canadian fencer Bajgoric.
Benjamin Steffen is also eliminated in this moment, after losing to Bogdan Nikishin, with the score 15-9.
I will be back in a moment with some more thoughts and results.
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It's on!
Morning all!
Beginning this Saturday with a big and proper *boilk* as it should be, and I'm now ready to give you all the latest news from the poules.
Regarding my question from yesterday about the possible Swedish success, we saw my club mate Vincent Alston put up That Kind Of Fencing Performance as he went through his poule winning five bouts. He really likes this competition and it'd be fantastic if he could maintain his form and go through to the final 64 for the second time of his short career.
A guy like Tor Forsse, the newly crowned Swedish champion, has not had a great day and after four bouts he hasn't won any. Hopefully he could grab the last ones.
*****
Otherwise, there has not been much to write about, besides the fact that we've already seen a black card being given. I didn't see it myself, so I'm not going to leave my comment on it.
Although, we saw some protests towards a refereeing decision, but I'm totally sure it was correct. Fun fact - No card was given even if it was an unapproved protest should be given a card.
Oh well, the fencers seemed to be satisfied afterwards as the actual decision was correct.
...and they all lived happily ever after...
*****
Now, I'm off to grab another Zingo and watch some great fencing.
Laters, everyone.
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The live blog is back!
Yes, I know all of you (well..) wondered whether this year will have the same kind of live updating service as last year, and the answer is - not really, but almost.
My name is Joakim Lindqvist. I'm a swedish fencer with ambition to become an FIE referee in a few years, and I was one of two bloggers here at challengebernadotte.org last year with my very good friend Charlotte, who cannot be with us this weekend as she is studying in London at this time.
Anyhow, I will do my best. I promise. Do not fear. I've done this many times (1) before. I'm a pro (amateur).
*****
As we enter the competition tomorrow at 8am CET, there are some questions to be answered.
1. Will we have a Swedish fencer in the quarterfinals this year as well? Last year Carl Frisell put in that sort of performance that maybe I'd say is the kind of performance very few of the Swedish fencers are able to. He showed us why he is ranked as Sweden's no. 1 these years. And if he fails to do so, who of the others can go far? Perhaps Philip von Platen? Or maybe Karl Harmenberg, who can do really well when he has got one of those days.
2. Who will be the big negative upset in this year's competition? Last year Novosjolov, the World's Number One, came to Stockholm, lost his first bout at 8.20am and was eliminated before I even got my first cup of coffee. I promise you, he won't be eliminated that early this time. And I will have my first cup of coffee before 8.20am.
3. Who might be the big positive upset in 2011? We saw Carl Frisell go through to the final 8. We saw Seung Hwa Jung reach the top spot last year when everyone expected Novosjolov, Fiedler, Boczko or Grumier to win it.
4. Will the young Norwegians put up top class performances individually? During my cadet & junior years I competed a lot with the Norwegians that are now part of their national team. They ended up 4th in Paris some time ago, but will they finally reach the top spots as individuals. Sturla Torkildsen and Claus Moerch have done some good results, with Moerch's bronze at Leipzig World Championships as top performance, but I think it's time for the young lads to take over.
5. Will Benedict Chambers, 44 years later this year, end up higher or lower in the final ranking than his fellow countryman, Andrew Fenwick, 24?
6. Am I able to get an Internet connection at Eriksdalshallen? In 2010, I had to use my iPhone during the first hours before we found out how to use the Wi-Fi. Hopefully, in 2011, it won't take that long.
*****
I must say I'm very much looking forward to this. I hope that it will be an awesome weekend and that there will be some great fencing and, of course, that, if you can't be here in Stockholm, you will be with us at the website with comments, views, questions etc. I think it will be great.
Til' tomorrow.
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Blog
About Challenge Bernadotte
Challenge Bernadotte attracts the world's best men's épée fencers to Stockholm once a year.
The 2011 edition take place on 14-15 May.
Live video
Live results
Programme
Friday 13 May
15:00 Pools and schedule will be announced
16:00-21:00 Equipment control
21:00 Referees Meeting
Saturday 14 May
08:00 Preliminary Rounds
Sunday 15 May
08:30 Direct Elimination, Table of 64
11:00 Direct Elimination, Table of 32
14:00 Quarterfinals
15:30 Semifinals and final