Former Cadet World Champion and NCAA medalist Graham Wicas returns to competition at the North American Cup in Atlantic City.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — It's been 18 years since Graham Wicas won a Cadet World Championship, and nearly 15 years since his days at Princeton, where he earned bronze and silver in consecutive NCAA championships and was a two-time first-team All-American in epee. Now 35, Wicas’s passion for fencing remains as he competed in the Division I Epee event at this weekend’s North American Cup in Atlantic City.
Juggling his responsibilities as a father, graduate student, and working professional, Wicas, who lives in Wayne, Pa., and trains at the Fencing Academy of Philadelphia, stepped away from competitive fencing for nearly five years before returning to the strip in 2016. Despite the hiatus, Wicas says he always planned on returning.
“I think I just have a deeply ingrained love of the sport,” Wicas says. “Even when I wasn’t competing, I followed fencing at the international level. Competitions started to become more available on YouTube, so I kept watching the sport evolve and always thought about returning.
“I’d always hoped to come back and compete once again. I think I never let go of my identity as an athlete, and that helped me stay motivated to maintain my fitness so I could step in again.”
Since his return, Wicas has found ways to balance fencing with his other commitments.
“I think I’ve adapted my approach to training,” Wicas says. “I only manage to get in one night a week to take a lesson and train, but over the past few years, I’ve become certified as a personal trainer and nutritionist. I built a home gym during COVID, so I work out there three days a week doing strength training, and I do some form of cardio two days a week.”
Wicas’s cardio routines range from hours on a pickleball court to sessions on his Peloton bike. When he’s not competing, his time on the strip is dedicated to refining his techniques with his coach.
“I’m not really learning a lot of new techniques,” he says. “It’s more about honing what I already know. The focus now is on improving my fitness, staying injury-free, and maintaining mobility so I can keep up with younger fencers.”
Wicas also emphasizes the importance of mental preparation and shares how his mindset has evolved over time.
“You don’t want to be too relaxed, but you also don’t want to be overexerted,” he says. “There’s a balance where you optimize performance based on your level of arousal. Coming back to competing, I’ve learned to focus more on the process and goals rather than just wanting to win.”
Wicas started fencing at age 10, and 25 years later, he continues to compete at an elite level. He credits much of his drive and work ethic to his mother, Beth, who was a multi-sport athlete in high school and an accomplished equestrian competitor.
“I never had a lot of external pressure to perform,” Wicas says. “My mother realized I was intrinsically motivated to study and improve as a fencer.”