Daryl Homer celebrates his quarterfinal win at the men's saber fencing world cup on May 19, 2018 in Madrid.
Olympic silver medalist Daryl Homer won bronze at the men’s saber world cup Saturday in Madrid, marking his first world cup medal since he took bronze in November 2016 in Dakar, Senegal.
Homer entered the tournament as the No. 14 seed but the 27-year-old defeated Russia’s Konstantin Lokhanov in the quarterfinals 15-7 to set up a semifinal against 19th-ranked Italian Enrico Berre. Berre took a 15-14 victory to advance to the final, where he won the gold medal over Russia’s Veniamin Reshetnikov. Sanguk Oh of Korea took the other bronze.
Homer's 2016 Olympic teammate Eli Dershwitz, who won two of the previous four world cups this season, finished fifth.
Homer recently took gold at April’s North American Cup in Richmond, Virginia. His silver medal at the Olympic Games Rio 2016 was the first by a U.S. men’s saber fencer at the Olympics since Peter Westbrook won bronze in 1984 and the first silver since William Grebe in 1904. The two-time Olympian also won silver at the 2015 world championships, becoming the first U.S. men’s fencer to medal in saber at a world championships.
Homer is among 12 U.S. fencers in Madrid for this weekend’s competition. On Sunday, he’ll join Eli Dershwitz, Andrew Mackiewicz and Jeff Spear as the No. 6 seeded country in the team competition.
Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
