Foil fencers Miles Chamley-Watson, Lee Kiefer and Nzingha Prescod qualified for their second Olympic teams over the weekend.
The U.S. Olympic team across all sports is now up to 47 qualified athletes.
Chamley-Watson, a former world No. 2 and the only U.S. man to earn a World or Olympic title (2013 Worlds) in any fencing event, joins world No. 1 Alexander Massialas and world No. 3 Gerek Meinhardt on the U.S. Olympic men’s foil team.
All three will compete individually and in the team event in Rio.
A fourth American, world No. 4 Race Imboden, will serve as a replacement athlete for the team event but is not on the official U.S. Olympic team until he competes in Rio, should he be used.
Chamley-Watson is ranked No. 10 in the world but beat out Imboden in U.S. Fencing points standings for Olympic qualification.
In 2012, Chamley-Watson, Imboden and Massialas competed individually at the Olympics, with none getting past the round of 16. Those three and Meinhardt also finished fourth in the 2012 Olympic team event. The U.S. last earned an Olympic men’s foil medal in 1960.
On the women’s side, Kiefer and Prescod also clinched their second Olympic berths over the weekend. There is no women’s foil team event at the Rio Olympics, so Kiefer and Prescod will not be joined by any more U.S. women’s foil fencers.
Kiefer is ranked No. 4 in the world. Prescod is No. 10.
At the 2015 World Championships, Prescod lost in the semifinals, receiving a bronze medal, and Kiefer fell in the quarterfinals.
The U.S. has once earned an Olympic women’s foil medal, a silver in the Beijing 2008 team event.
