Junior Olympic Fencing Rules

The U.S. Junior Olympic Fencing Championships is the final competition in the United States to qualify for the Junior World Fencing Championship. It occurs annually in February, and fencers must qualify to compete. To compete as a junior, they must also fulfill age requirements, but other rules are the same as for adult fencers. There are team and individual events for men and women in foil, epee, and saber, the three disciplines or types of fencing. Fencers can compete in all three disciplines but are divided by gender (Women's Foil, Men's Epee). Each discipline uses a different weapon and points are scored according to different rules. A fencer wins a match or bout by scoring a set number of points against his opponent or by having the most points when the match's time limit is over

  1. Qualifications

    • In order to qualify for Junior Olympic fencing, a competitor must be over the age of 14 and under 20 to compete as a Junior or under 17 to compete as a Cadet. A fencer must also acquire points based on his performance in qualification tournaments. In order to compete at the Junior Olympics, a fencer must be in the top 25% of fencers in his division's qualifying competition or must qualify based on points acquired at competitions throughout the season. At tournaments throughout the year, the top percentage of fencers in each category will be awarded points, which accumulate over the course of the season and enable him to qualify for championship tournaments. A fencer must qualify in every separate event in which he wishes to compete at the Olympics.

    Foil

    • . A foil is the lightest, most flexible weapon of the three fencing weapons, and points are scored only by striking your opponent with the point of the foil in the torso. Strikes to the head, arms, or legs do not score points in foil.

    Epee

    • An epee is a slightly larger and heavier weapon than a foil, and like in foil, points are scored with the tip of the blade, but striking any part of your opponent's body will score a point. Also, the tips of foils and epees have a spring-loaded button to indicate when a point has been scored. The button in an epee is less sensitive than that in a foil, requiring fencers to strike with more power.

    Saber

    • In saber, fencers may score points with the tip or the side of the weapon. However, the legs are not valid targets. Unlike epee and foil, in which a fencer attacks by extending the point of his weapon towards his opponent, saber fencing uses side swipes as well as frontal attacks.

    Right of Way

    • Often in fencing, both competitors may strike each other at nearly the same time. In foil and saber, the point is determined by right of way: whichever fencer started the attack first receives the point. In epee, however, the first fencer to land a point in an engagement receives the point, regardless of who started the attack.

    Time limits

    • A fencing bout is ended by a number of points or by a time limit, whichever comes first. There are five-touch bouts and 15-touch bouts. The first fencer to score 5 or 15 times will win the bout. However, there is also a time limit of three minutes for a five-touch bout and nine minutes for a 15-touch bout. If neither fencer has scored enough points at the end of the time limit, the one with the most points wins. If the score is even at the end of the time limit, the bout will continue for one minute, and if neither fencer scores, the winner is determined by lot.