Nationals and Zonals, the final countdown

Hello everyone! It’s been another whirlwind of training and competing!

The training camp in Spain lasted about 3 weeks. It was very fun and I would like to thank Carlos Freitas from Argentina for inviting me. I got to train with some of the best people in the world from several countries, eat Paella, and see Barcelona and Valencia. It was a very cool trip and I will definitely be going back. We did a lot of epee and made a few changes to my saber technique and the results showed.

I went from Spain to nationals in Salt Lake City where I took 3rd in epee and 3rd in saber, but the gap for making the finals and taking silver or gold was truly tiny. If I had been less jet lagged or better recovered it would have been more than enough to change the outcome. So while silver or gold would have been nice, I know for certain I am at that level and am very happy with my performance.

The traveling and high training volume have been taking its toll so I am back home for about 10 days to rest and do all the things I can’t do remotely, like go through my mail and see my family and dogs haha. 5 days in and I am starting to feel caught up and semi recovered. I don’t get to rest yet as the final push for Paris is about to start.

The last 2 events to qualify for Paris will be in São Paulo, Brazil, a few days apart. The first one is the Zonal championships which will have only athletes from North America, South America, and Africa, or the “Americas” zone since Africa rarely sends athletes. I will need a first place finish in epee to have a chance at qualifying, and a good finish in saber would improve my ranking a lot for next season. We get a 3 day break after the zonal competition and then the final World Cup for Paris will take place. I will need at least a top 16 finish and possibly a top 8 finish to get enough points to qualify. These are both right at the edge of my ability level. It’s going to come down to God’s will and a little bit of luck to see if I make it :).