German 14-year-old Colin Heathcock Storms to European Crown
The Cadet European Championships continued today in Porec, Croatia. A field of 82 took part in the Cadet Men’s Sabre event and it was Colin Heathcock of Germany who claimed the title at just 14 years old.
Ranked 6th in Europe, Heathcock won all six of his ranking round matches and was ranked 6th for the elimination stages. He took out Viacheslav Dziuba (UKR) 15-12, Spyridon Krouskos (GRE) 15-7, European number 3 Emanuele Nardella (ITA) 15-12 and Rotislav Kucherenko (UKR) 15-13 to make the medal matches. His opponent in the semi-finals was Konrad Ondrik of Hungary. He had made a shaky start to the day, dropping two of his first round matches but found his form in the eliminator, beating Europe’s number 5 Edoardo Cantini (ITA) 15-12 on route to the semi-finals.
Heathcock just edged the decision-making off the line in the first period. The speed of his decision making meant that he was able to land his attacks and give himself the time and space for parries when he wanted to use them. He led 8-4 at the break. A confident German came back out and was now able to demonstrate his dominance when the actions went past the first phase. He took the match 15-9.
The other half of the draw saw two left-handers face off in the semi-final. Dmitriy Nasonov of Russia was in stunning form. He dropped just 8 hits in the ranking round and beat Europe’s number 1 Cadet Men’s Sabre fencer, Todor Stoychev (BUL) 15-13 to make the semi-finals. His opponent was Germany’s Valentin Meka who came into the tournament ranked 44th in Europe. He also won all of his first round matches and took out European number 12, Radu Nitu (ROU) 15-10 and European number 14, Nikita Kisin (RUS) by the same score on his way to the medal matches. Nasonov was on another level to Meka at the start of the match. The Russian was much more composed off the line and more than happy for the match to be played outside of the middle of the piste. Nasonov led 8-3 at the break and despite a late rally from Meka, the Russian made the final by winning 15-10.
The gold medal match was a classy and thrilling spectacle with both fencers prepared to take the fight out of the middle of the piste. Heathcock took every opportunity to attack when Nasonov retreated and his long attacks were very successful. Nasonov took action and whilst not rushing forwards, the Russian refused to concede any ground and drew level at 6-6. A beautiful fast attack and exquisite stop-cut took Heathcock into the break 8-6 up. At the start of the second period, the Russian appeared to want Heathcock to attack again but was unable to find any parries. The German went 10-7 up before Nasonov went back on the attack himself. At 10-10 the match was still anyone’s and given the tension it was no surprise that we saw multiple actions in the middle. At 12-12, Heathcock made his move, setting up a beautiful parry riposte before landing an attack. Depsite Nasonov claiming one back, Heathcock landed a well-timed attack to take the fight 15-13 and the European title with it!
