(L-R) Courtney Hurley, the women's foil fencing team and Eli Dershwitz were named the winners of the Team USA Awards Best of July.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Standout performances during July earned fencers Eli Dershwitz (Sherborn, Massachusetts), Courtney Hurley (San Antonio, Texas) and the U.S. women’s foil fencing team Best of July honors for the Team USA Awards presented by Dow, the United States Olympic Committee announced today. This is the first time fencers have swept the monthly accolades, dating back to 1994.
Dershwitz won his first ever world championship medal, taking silver in men’s saber in Wuxi, China. He became just the second U.S. man to win a world championship medal in the event. His silver-medal performance also elevated him to the No. 1 world ranking in saber and helped him secure the overall world cup title. The 2016 Olympian is the first U.S. men’s saber fencer in history to earn the overall title.
Hurley became the first U.S. fencer in history – male or female – to win an individual world championship medal in epee with her bronze medal. The 2012 Olympic team bronze medalist also took home hardware in the epee team event, aiding the U.S. women in capturing the world title. The performance marked the first podium finish for an American women’s epee team on the world championship stage.
The U.S. women’s foil fencing team won the first-ever world championship title for an American foil team – male or female. In the gold-medal final, the Americans upset reigning Olympic and world champion Italy by a 10-point margin. With a 45-35 victory, Team USA bested the No. 1 team in the world that has held five of the last six titles at the world championships or Olympic Games. The team comprised of Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Kentucky), Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, New York), Nicole Ross (New York, New York) and Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Connecticut).
In addition to Dow, the presenting sponsor, the Team USA Awards are supported by DICK’S Sporting Goods and USG.
About the Team USA Awards
Each National Governing Body may nominate one female, one male and one team per discipline. An internal nominating committee selects five nominees from both the male and female categories, and three from the team category to advance to the voting round. Votes received from NGB representatives and select members of the media account for 50 percent of the final tally, with the other half determined by online fan voting via TeamUSA.org/Awards.
