Three KIT Fencers in the Finals of DHM Fencing
A total of 250 fencers were registered, who decided on two days in the three weapons foil, epee and saber the German university champion. KIT started with 10 fencers in the different competitions.
In the men's epee it was Martin Hartmann, Christopher Störrle, Jens Keller, Jaakob de Vries, Lorenz Schmidt and Arne Richter. The field of 93 fencers was strong. While Lorenz had just missed the tableau of 64 in the direct elimination, Arne and Jens met directly in the first round. Jens had fenced a good preliminary round until then, but had to admit defeat to Arne in the knockout. This led to the early exit of Jens, since there was no hope run. In this round, the losers of a knockout round compete against each other to allow the winner to advance. Martin was also defeated in an exciting and close fight with 14:15 against Christopher Prohl. Christopher and Jaakob mastered their first knockout fights confidently, but met each other afterwards as well. For the second time, a Karlsruhe player had to retire in a KIT internal fight. This time Jaakob won by a narrow margin. However, he had to admit defeat to Fabian Herzberg in the following fencing. Arne had a good start for the direct elimination in the preliminary rounds and had a good run. He safely reached the final of the last 8, where he was defeated by the runner-up Toni Kneist from Berlin for a place in the semi-finals. Results overview: Martin Hartmann 36th, Christopher Störrle 18th, Jens Keller 48th, Jaakob de Vries 11th, Lorenz Schmidt 75th and Arne Richter 8th.
In the men's sabre Stéphane Cayotte started. Here, too, the field of 29 starters was strong. After the two preliminary rounds he was placed 18th. In the 32 knockout he could win the first two fights before he lost in the next round. Unlike in epee, there was a hope round in sabre. There he was able to secure his ticket to the 8-man final in an exciting battle. He met Benedikt Beisheim, who was seeded first after the preliminary round and who, among other things, is the 2012 World Cup winner. In the role of the outsider, he was able to steal a few hits from the experienced fencer, but ultimately had to admit defeat to the future German University Champion.
On the second day Karlsruhe was represented by Jaakob de Vries, Jens Keller, Benjamin Schmidt and Manuel Baptista in the men's foil. All of them reached the first knockout round, in which Jens was eliminated by Nils Kolbinger, who came third after the preliminary rounds. The same happened to Benjamin who had to compete directly against Toni Kneist and lost 3:15. In the following knockout round of 32, Jaakob had to admit defeat to Toni Kneist 11:15, despite a rapid race to catch up, in which Jaakob reduced the gap from 8 to 2 goals in the meantime. Manuel, on the other hand, reached the quarter-finals after clear victories in the 64 and 32 knockouts and an exciting duel. In the quarterfinals he met Nils Müller, the future champion, and lost to him. Results overview: Jaakob de Vries 22nd, Jens Keller 62nd, Benjamin Schmidt 46th and Manuel Baptista 8th.
Laura Molz was the only participant representing Karlsruhe in women's épée. She ended up in 29th place out of 43 participants after the preliminary rounds and was eliminated in the following knockout competition. She therefore finished 29th.
All in all, the DHEM in Göttingen was a complete success. The KIT fencers could show that they are able to fence successfully even in fields with squad fencers. Especially the performances of our three finalists should be emphasized: Arne, Stéphane and Manuel. This gives hope for further success.