U.S. Men’s Foil Team Brings Experience, Hunger to Fencing’s Final Day

PARIS, France — All four have at least one Olympic bronze medal in the event, but for all their success together at the World Cup level, the guys on the 2024 U.S. Olympic Men’s Foil Team have never competed together at an Olympic Games.

That sets the stage for an exciting final day of fencing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, where the third-ranked U.S. Men’s Foil Team will look to pick up a medal for a third Olympics in a row (after bronze in both Tokyo and Rio).

“Our goal is to win gold, finally,” says five-time Olympian Gerek Meinhardt (Lexington, Ky.). “We were ranked higher going into the last two Games and came home with bronze. We know that we're capable, and ranking really doesn’t matter, especially in a sport like fencing. So we’re just excited to go out there, fight as hard as we can, and show all the work that we've been doing.”

The squad is stacked with talent — representing a combined 14 Olympic Games. 

Four-time Olympian Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.) has an individual silver and two team bronze medals. Two-time Olympian Nick Itkin (Los Angeles, Calif.) has an individual bronze at these Games and a team bronze. Five-time Olympian Gerek Meinhardt (Lexington, Ky.) has two team bronze medals. And three-time Miles Chamley-Watson (Los Angeles, Calif.) picked up a team bronze in 2016.

“We have a very special bond with each other,” Chamley-Watson says. “We hang out outside of the sport as well. I think it's our time to make history, and I hope that we can fence our best and create some magic.”

The squad is coming off an impressive gold medal-winning performance at the 2024 Pan American Championships, which followed a successful season at FIE (International Fencing Federation) World Cup competitions.

The team competed in five FIE World Cup tournaments in 2023-24 and medaled in three: bronze in Cairo (February 2024), gold in Paris (January 2024) and bronze in Istanbul (November 2023).

On the strength of those results, the United States enters the eight-team tournament as the No. 3 seed, with a matchup against No. 6 Egypt awaiting in the first round. 

The United States has five Olympic medals in this event, which was first contested at the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis: four bronze, one silver. (But it’s worth noting that at the 1904 Games, only two teams competed in the Men’s Foil Team event.)

• Men’s Foil team at the last three major international competitions

  • 2023 Worlds, Milan: 4th

  • 2022 Worlds, Cairo: Silver medal

  • 2020/2021 Olympic Games, Tokyo: Bronze medal

• The team competed in five worlds cups in 2023-24 and medaled in three, including a gold medal in Paris in January:

  • Bronze in Cairo (February 2024)

  • Gold in Paris (January 2024)

  • Bronze in Istanbul (November 2023)

• The United States has five Olympic medals in this event, which was first contested at the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis: four bronze, one silver.

  • Tokyo 2020 — Bronze: Race Imboden, Nick Itkin, Alexander Massialas, Gerek Meinhardt

  • Rio 2016 — Bronze: Miles Chamley-Watson, Race Imboden, Alexander Massialas, Gerek Meinhardt

  • Los Angeles 1932 — Bronze: Hugh Alessandroni, George Calnan, Dernell Every, Joe Levis, Frank Righeimer, Richard Steere

  • Antwerp 1920 — Bronze: Henry Breckinridge, Francis Honeycutt, Arthur Lyon, Harold Rayner, Robert Sears

  • St. Louis 1904 — Silver*: Arthur Fox, Charles Tatham, Fitzhugh Townsend

    • *Only two nations competed 

All bouts are streamed live on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com (streaming schedule), with the quarterfinals and semifinals rounds also expected to air on the E! Network. Bronze and gold medal bouts are expected to air on the E! Network and stream live on Peacock.

Men’s Foil Team

Find the full bracket here, and broadcast/livestream info here.

• Quarterfinals: Team USA vs. Egypt, 5:50 a.m. ET (11:50 a.m. Paris)
• 5-8 Classification Bouts: 7:40 a.m. ET (1:40 p.m. Paris)
• Semifinals: 8:50 a.m. ET (2:50 p.m. Paris)
• 5-6, 7-8 Classification Bouts: 10 a.m. ET (4 p.m. Paris)
• Bronze Medal Match: 1:10 p.m. ET (7:10 p.m. Paris)
• Gold Medal Match: 2:30 p.m. ET (8:30 p.m. Paris)