Canadian fencer Eleanor Harvey claims Olympic bronze in Paris

Canada’s Eleanor Harvey will compete for bronze — and Canada’s first-ever Olympic fencing medal — after being defeated in the semifinals of the women’s foil individual event in Paris.

American Lauren Scruggs struck first en route to a 15-9 victory over the Canadian on Sunday. 

Scruggs controlled the match early, jumping out to a 4-0 lead before Harvey cut the deficit to 5-3 before the end of the first round. 

The Canadian continued her climb in the second, using her speed and agility to knot the score at 5-5 before Scruggs pulled ahead once again and scored seven straight points before Harvey was finally able to retaliate. 

Scruggs took a 13-7 advantage into the final round and finished Harvey off by lunging in for a high touch. 

Harvey is set to battle for bronze later on Sunday against the loser of a semifinal match between reigning Olympic champion Lee Kiefer of the U.S. and Italy’s Alice Volpi. 

With a top-four finish guaranteed, Harvey “will post the best ever Olympic result for a Canadian in any individual fencing event,” wrote Team Canada in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. 

Canadian fencers, not known for contending for Olympic medals, have been making waves in Paris.

On Saturday, Fares Arfa of Laval, Que., upset three-time defending Olympic champion Aron Szilagyi of Hungary in men’s sabre competition before narrowly losing to eventual gold medallist Oh Sang-uk of South Korea in the quarterfinals. That was the best Olympic result by a Canadian fencer until Harvey topped it a day later.

Earlier, Harvey posted a 15-14 come-from-behind victory over fourth-seeded Italian Martina Favaretto in the quarterfinals. She also beat Poland’s Julia Walczyk-Klimaszyk 14-6 in the Round of 16 and China’s Wang Yuting 12-8 in the opening round. 

The 29-year-old Harvey, from Hamilton, made her Olympic debut in 2016. 

She was a silver medallist in both the individual and team foil events in her third Pan Am Games last year in Santiago, Chile.

In other Round of 16 results, Toronto’s Jessica Guo was defeated 15-11 by Scruggs and Yunjia Zhang, also from Toronto, fell 15-5 to Hungary’s Flora Pasztor. 

Also on Sunday, Nicholas Zhang of Richmond, B.C., lost 15-11 to Venezuela’s Grabiel Lugo in the opening round of the men’s épée.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28, 2024