Sports
Dynamo fencer dynamic at junior world champs
Placing sixth at the World Junior Fencing Championships in men's épée is an impressive feat.
Placing sixth at the World Junior Fencing Championships in men's épée is an impressive feat.
But it only begins to tell the story of Seraphim Jarov's storybook journey at the 2019 event held in mid-April in Torun, Poland.
In the round of 16, the 17-year-old from Richmond's Dynamo Fencing Club upset the world's No. 1-ranked Jacob Jurka of the Czech Republic, after earlier overwhelming a top Korean opponent 15-1 in the round of 32.
"That is just unheard of," explains his coach, Igor Gantsevich, himself a former national champion and World Cup and Pan American Games medalist.
Jarov fell an agonizing single point shy of medalling, losing his final match 14-13 in overtime to Gianpaolo Buzzacchino of Italy. But the impressive showing is indicative that the potential is only scratching the surface.