Canada’s Eleanor Harvey wins bronze in Paris Olympics fencing event
Eleanor Harvey has made history winning Canada’s first-ever Olympic medal in fencing.
Harvey defeated Italy’s Alice Volpi 15-12 to capture bronze in the women’s foil individual event on Sunday afternoon.
Harvey jumped out to a quick 6-1 lead before ending the first period leading 9-4. The second period was all Volpi as she staged a furious comeback on the 12th-ranked Canadian, reeling off the next six straight points to even the match 10-10 before Harvey fought back, winning five of the next seven points to close out the match.
Advertisement
Harvey became the first-ever Canadian to earn a spot in an Olympic individual semifinal after upsetting No. 4 seed Martina Favaretto of Italy in the quarterfinal earlier in the day before losing to American Lauren Scruggs 15-9 in the semifinal.
Harvey is competing in her third Olympics. Her best previous showing was a quarterfinal appearance in 2016 in Rio, previously Canada’s best individual result
Harvey said before the 2021 Olympics that she was retiring after Tokyo, per Scott Radley of the Hamilton Spectator, but then decided to take another shot.
Canada has made noise in the first two days of fencing competition in Paris.
On Saturday, Fares Arfa beat Aron Szilagyi of Hungary in a run to the quarterfinals.
