Vet Worlds 2024, Day 1: Team USA Opens Competition With Eight Medals, Including Two Golds

DUBAI — Fierce rivals the strip, good friends off it. That’s a descriptor that could apply to dozens of pairings of fencers at the 2024 Veteran Fencing World Championships, but it’s especially true of Vet-60 Women’s Saber fencers Robin J. Pernice (Dynamo Fencing Center) and Lydia Fabry (Avant Garde Fencers Club & Fortune Fencing). 

Pernice and Fabry have been teammates, rivals and friends for more than 20 years.

And so when they faced off on Friday in an all-Team USA final — with a world championship on the line — the competition was fierce.

The match was a repeat of the gold medal final at the 2023 Vet Worlds in Daytona Beach, Fla. That time, Fabry won 10-5. This year, Pernice battled to a 10-7 victory.

“Last year — it’s hard to explain — but when a bout is out of control, it speeds up, and it's over. It's almost like I didn't notice it happened,” Pernice says. “And today, my one goal was to slow it down and think about every touch. I did that, and it worked.”

When Pernice scored the decisive 10th touch and the mask came off, Fabry and Pernice embraced in a hug. And now the two get to be teammates again during Saturday’s Vet Team Women’s Saber event. The six-member team includes the top two finishers in each of the three age groups. That means Pernice and Fabry will represent the 60- to 69-year-olds.

“Lydia and I are really complimentary,” Pernice says. “So if I start a bout and it's not going well, I'd be like, ‘Lydia, please do this. I know you can do this better.’ And she'll do the same with me, because we know each other so well. It's all about winning. No one cares about being the hero.”

Jennette Starks-Faulkner (Connecticut Fencers Club & Marx Fencing Academy) didn’t come to Dubai expecting to be Team USA’s hero in saber either. This was her first year in Vet-70s, meaning a new set of opponents to study and try to defeat. 

Starks-Faulner is a four-time world champion in Vet-60 Women’s Foil (2014, 2016, 2019, 2023) but hadn’t won a world championship in any age category of women’s saber — until Friday.

“I've been getting a lot of coaching,” she says. “People have been telling me, ‘that's one thing you have. You get off the line fast.’ I just had to get my arm coordinated with my feet, and once that happened, and it started working, it started clicking.”

Starks-Faulkner has at least two more events in Dubai — Vet-70 Women’s Foil on Sunday and the Vet Team Women’s Saber event on Saturday. So how will she get ready with less than 18 hours between her individual and team events?

“First, I need to stop smiling so much,” she says. “But this is my first time on the [Women’s Saber] team. The first time I did saber, I took second, but I didn't think I was gonna make it, so I got my plane ticket, and someone else took my spot. I'm pretty excited.”

Starks-Faulkner’s title means Team USA has won Vet-70 Women’s Saber gold at three Vet Worlds in a row: Starks-Faulkner in 2024, Jane Eyre in 2023 and Delia Turner in 2022. 

In Vet-70 Men’s Saber, Joseph S. Streb (Columbus International Fencing Academy & Royal Arts FC) reached the finals for a third year in a row. He’s faced an Italian each time, winning in 2023 and losing in 2022 and 2024 to Giulio Paroli. With his silver in hand, Streb will return to action in the Vet Team Men’s Saber event on Sunday.

Team USA fencers also took home four bronze medals on Friday: Julie Seal (Valkyrie Fencing Club) in Vet-50 Women’s Saber, Linda Dunn (Indysabre Fencing Club) and Jeannine Bender (Capital Fencing Academy) in Vet-70 Women’s Saber and Don Malnati (Nazlymov Fencing Foundation) in Vet-70 Men’s Saber.