2025 Junior & Cadet Worlds Recap, Day 4 (Junior Foil): Liu Rallies to Gold, Continues Team USA’s Dominance

WUXI, China — Trailing 2–7 at the first break in the Junior Women’s Foil final, Jaelyn Liu (Star Fencing Academy, Fencing Institute of Texas) could have panicked. Instead, she powered on.

Liu battled back to tie the score at 7 and took her first lead of the bout at 12–11 with 31 seconds left on the clock. Then she sealed the deal, 14–12, to become the 2025 Junior Women’s Foil World Champion on Thursday at the Junior & Cadet Fencing World Championships in Wuxi, China.

“In the beginning, I was just really tired, and I was thinking about my tiredness — I wasn’t really thinking of fencing,” she says. “And then midway, I was like, ‘Wait, what am I doing? Is this how I wanted to end?’ I had a bit of a tactical change. I’m just gonna slow down. I’m gonna see how it goes.”

Liu finished 15th in this event last year in Saudi Arabia, a day before winning the Cadet Women’s Foil World Championship. This time, she was determined to raise her junior result to match her abilities.

“I definitely gained a lot of experience over this past year,” she says. “And so I was coming in more confident and much more excited. Overall, I was feeling really good today.”

Over the past decade, Junior Women’s Foil has been Team USA’s most dominant individual event at the Junior & Cadet Worlds. American fencers have taken gold in eight of the last 11 championships — a streak that now continues with Liu. She’s the first U.S. champion in Junior Women’s Foil since Zander Rhodes won in 2023.

Gold and 2025 World Champion: Jaelyn Liu (Star Fencing Academy, Fencing Institute of Texas)

5th: Katerina Lung (MOE Fencing Club LLC)

12th: Chin-Yi Kong (Princeton University, Golden State Fencing Academy)

58th: Victoria Pevzner (University of Notre Dame, V Fencing Club)

26th: Liam Bas (University of Notre Dame, Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy)

28th: Richard Li (Star Fencing Academy)

33rd: Andrew Chen (Harvard University, Bluegrass Fencers’ Club)

43rd: Allen Chen (Princeton University, Bluegrass Fencers’ Club)