2025 Junior & Cadet Worlds Recap, Day 6 (Junior Foil Team): Liu Leads U.S. Women to Gold

WUXI, China — Trailing after each of the first five legs in the Junior Women’s Foil team final against their frequent rivals from Italy, Team USA needed something special.

They found it in Jaelyn Liu (Star Fencing Academy, Fencing Institute of Texas). 

Just one day removed from winning the 2025 Cadet Women’s Foil world championship — and two days after claiming the Junior Women’s Foil crown — Liu summoned the energy to deliver a 12–2 leg that put Team USA ahead for good. 

The Americans rode that momentum all the way to a Junior Women’s Foil team world title on Saturday at the 2025 Junior & Cadet Fencing World Championships in Wuxi, China.

“I was pretty confident going in, and I really wanted to bring the score back up,” Liu says. “I knew we had a chance, and I took it. I didn’t give up — that’s my main thing.”

Liu’s teammates — Victoria Pevzner (University of Notre Dame, V Fencing Club), Katerina Lung (MOE Fencing Club LLC), and Chin-Yi Kong (Princeton University, Golden State Fencing Academy) — all contributed crucial touches that brought the championship back to the United States. Team USA has now won gold in this event three times in the past four years (missing the podium in 2024).

Kong, fencing in her last Junior (Under-20) season, says this was a perfect farewell.

“To finish it on such a great note, really, it just means the world,” she says. “It means a lot to me, and I’m really happy to be here and lucky to be part of this team.”

Pevzner shares those sentiments and feels proud to continue the tradition of strong U.S. women’s foil teams.

“I was so happy to have made it onto this team with these wonderful, hard-working girls,” she says. “And to keep up that legacy? It’s truly an honor.”

Meanwhile, Lung’s setup leg kept Team USA within striking distance before Liu’s decisive final touch.

“I think Jaelyn helped a lot, and the entire team,” Lung says. “When they’re cheering, I get this motivation, and I’m all pumped up.”

When the final score came down to a single touch at 44–44, Liu says strategy fades into the background.

“I didn’t have a plan,” she says. “The only thing going through my mind was to get the touch and don’t get hit. And then when I saw it was one light, I was just overjoyed, because there’s no argument in that.”

There’s no debate about the result, either: Team USA is the 2025 Junior Women’s Foil World Champion. And Liu herself made history, becoming just the third fencer ever — and first in foil — to win Cadet, Junior and Junior Team World Championships at the same tournament (joining Mariel Zagunis in 2001 and Becca Ward in 2006).

Over in the Junior Men’s Foil Team event, the top-ranked Americans faced an unusually difficult draw. They encountered a squad of Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) — featuring the silver, bronze, and fifth-place finishers in the individual event — in the Round of 32, ultimately falling 34-45 to place 17th.

Team USA, Gold and 2025 World Champions

Jaelyn Liu (Star Fencing Academy, Fencing Institute of Texas)

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

Katerina Lung (MOE Fencing Club LLC)

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

Team USA, 17th

Andrew Chen (Harvard University, Bluegrass Fencers' Club)

Richard Li (Star Fencing Academy)

Allen Chen (Princeton University, Bluegrass Fencers' Club)

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