Nicole Ross celebrates her semifinal win against Arianna Errigo of Italy at the FIE Foil World Cup on Nov. 5, 2016 in St.-Maur, France.
Nicole Ross won the second individual world cup medal of her career Saturday in St-Maur, France, facing the top two women in the world foil rankings on the way to a silver medal. A member of the 2012 Olympic team, Ross continues a strong showing that she began with a bronze medal last month in Cancun, Mexico. She is now 2-for-2 in world cup medals this season.
Entering the tournament ranked No. 8 in the world, Ross opened the knockout stage with a 15-7 victory over Maeva Rancurel of France, then survived a tight 15-14 match against Italy’s Valentina Cipriani. Next up was Martyna Jelinska of Poland, who fell victim to Ross by a 15-10 margin to set up Ross’ semifinal encounter with world No. 1 Arianna Errigo of Italy. Ross secured a medal with her 15-10 over the 2012 Olympic silver medalist to earn a spot in the gold-medal match, where she faced Inna Deriglazova of Russia, ranked No. 2 in the world, and fell 15-8.
The United States had two athletes advance to the tournament’s quarterfinals. Two-time Olympian Lee Kiefer, who was No. 3 in the latest FIE rankings, advanced to the quarterfinals before falling to Russia’s Anastasia Ivanova, finishing fifth.
