Two current college freshmen – Notre Dame's Gerek Meinhardt and Penn State's Miles Chamley-Watson – combined with U.S. high-schoolers Alex Masialas and Zain Shaito to finish second on Monday in the men's foil team competition at the Junior World Championships. Meinhardt, ranked 14th in the world (among all men's foilists), went 57-48 (+11) in his touches during the four team matches while Chamley-Waton (ranked 6th among the world's under-20 men's foilists) was 47-44 (+3). Three days earlier, Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.) had reached the semifinal round in the individual competition, while Chamley-Watson (Philadelphia, Pa.) placed 10th.
The second-ranked United States had a first-round bye before posting a seven-point win over #18 Egypt (45-38). Meinhardt (15-11) and Chamley-Watson (15-13) led the Americans in wins vs. Egypt, with Masialas (10-10) also posting double-digit wins while Shaito went 5-4 in his lone bout. Egypt's Alaa El Din El Sayad – who placed 17th in the Jr. World individual competition – went 22-15 vs. the Americans: 7-5 vs. Masialas (round-2), 9-5 vs. Chamley Watson (rd-6) and 6-5 vs. Meinhardt (rd-9).
Meinhardt (pictured at left) opened the match by going 5-1 vs. Mostafa Abd El Mayed and Chamley Watson followed minutes later with a 5-3 record vs. Anas Mahmaoud Mostafa (for a 15-11 U.S. lead). Meinhardt's second bout produced a tight battle with Mostafa (5-4; 25-18) and the U.S. lead shrunk in the next round (30-27), when El Sayad went 9-5 vs. Chamley-Watson. The U.S. then opted to insert Shaito into the lineup (5-4 vs. Mostafa; 35-31) before Chamley-Watson delivered a key bout in round-8, nearly shutting out El Mayed (5-1) for a 40-32 U.S. lead (Meinhardt's 5-6 bout with El Sayed yielded the final 45-38 score).
The Americans actually posted a more comfortable win in the quarterfinals (45-26, vs. #10 Japan), with a 17-11 record from Meinhardt and 14-11 by Chamley Watson (Masialas was 14-8). The U.S. trailed after the first round (Meinhardt was 4-5 vs. Ryo Mikaye) but Chamley-Watson dominated in round-3 (8-2 vs. Masaru Takeshima) for a 15-10 team score. Two rounds later, Meinhardt posted the same score vs. Takeshima for a 25-14 cushion, which shrunk a bit when Suguru Awaji went 3-1 vs. Chamley-Watson (26-17). Round-8 saw Chamley-Watson go 5-2 vs. Mikaye (matching their score from the individual event), handing a 40-22 margin to Meinhardt for the final round (where he went 5-4, vs. Awaji).
In the semfiinal round, the U.S. survived a 43-42, overtime battle with #3 Russia (which had beaten #6 Ukraine in the quarters, 45-36). Each of the Americans hovered around the .500 mark in the tense match, as Chamley-Watson (pictured at left) was 16-18, Meinhardt 14-13 and Maisalas 13-11.
Meinhardt opened the match by going 5-2 vs. Dmitry Komissarov (ranked #14 among the world's u-20 men's foilists), while Masialas and world #8 Dmitry Zherebchenko staged a 1-1 defensive stalemate. Tumur Arslanov sliced one point off the U.S. lead (12-10), after edging Chamley Watson 7-6 in round-3. Komissarov followed with a 9-7 margin vs. Komissarov, forging a 19-19 tie.
The Russians surged ahead, 24-21, when Arslanov got the best of Meinhardt (5-2). Chamley -Watson got one point back in round-6 (5-4, vs. Zherebchenko) and Masialas came up huge moments later, winning 5-of-6 touches against Arslanov to thrust the U.S. back into the lead, (31-29 (Arslanov had gone 12-8 vs. the other two U.S. foilists).
Chamley-Watson and Komissarov took the a tension-packed strip for round-8, with the Russian claiming a 7-5 edge that left the teams tied (36-36). Midway through the bout, Komissarov had won back-to-back points for a 33-33 tie before Chamley-Watson appeared to shift the momentum with three straight touches (36-33) – but his opponent matched that spurt to set up the climactic final round.
Two of the world's top young men's foilists – Meinhardt and Zherebchenko – were in the spotlight, and Meinhardt won six of the first nine points to give the U.S. a 42-39 lead with only 35 seconds left on the clock. Zherebchenko could not afford to lose another point and fought his way back, scoring the final three touches in regulation (the tying point came with 0:15 left) to force overtime. Meinhardt had the tie-breaker "priority" but scored the winning touch anyway, with 0:30 left in the OT.
Russia went on to defeat South Korea for the bronze medal (45-31), while Italy (a 45-35 semifinal winner over S.K.) took the gold, following a 10-point victory over the Americans. Meinhrdt went 11-13 in the final bout and Masialas was 6-16, while Shaito had an impressive showing (15-10) after subbing in for Chamley-Watson (2-6). Italy's team was fronted by Tommaso Lari – ranked #1 in the world among u-20 men's foilists (and the JWC individual champion, three days earlier) – and Alessio Foconi, ranked #3 and a 2009 WJC semifinalist.
Foconi had defeated Meinhardt in the individual competition (5-1), but the American turned the tables by winning 5-of-8 points to open the gold-medal match. Lari then edged Masialas (6-5), leaving the U.S. with a 10-9 lead, and Giorhio Avola pushed the Italians to a 15-12 lead after handling Chamley Watson in round-3 (6-2; 15-12).
Italy's lead steadily grew over the next two rounds, as Foconi shut out Masialas (5-0) and Avola went 5-2 vs. Meinhardt, yielding a 25-14 team score. Shaito grabbed one point back (6-2 vs. Lari) but Avola stuck the dagger in the U.S. hopes, going 5-1 vs. Masialas for a comfortable 35-21 lead. Shaito continued his strong match in round-8 (9-4 vs. Foconi), but Lari closed out the gold-medal performance with a 5-4 final round vs. Meinhardt.