Athletes

In September 2018, the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games qualifying period for wheelchair fencing started and will run through until May 2020. For me, my qualifying period could not have got off to a better start, winning both the World Cup Epee events in Tbilisi, Georgia & Kyoto, Japan and so I was delighted to be able to carry my form through into the new season and secure my third Epee Gold of the qualifiers by taking the win in Sharjah, U.A.E!

The 2018 season for me seems to have flown by and just when I felt I was getting back into my flow again, following my World cup Epee Gold in Pisa back in March, I then had a long break through to the next competition in July, the Warsaw World cup, where I took Epee Gold, Sabre Bronze & Team Foil Silver!

After more than five years, when you come back to the city where you fenced your first Olympics, it is always a special occasion that it's worth highlighting by some unique experiences. But when world class foil fencer Alex Massialas, the then youngest member of the US delegation in the 2012 London Olympics, got back to the British capital in 2018, he had a very specific plan for his visit: he didn't want it to be just any sightseeing trip, but one that fell perfectly in line with his interests. That the latter involve fencing won't come as a surprise to anybody (and for good reason, Alex earned an individual Silver medal in the Rio 2016 Olympics and is a regular in the world's top 10), but did you know that our favourite member of the US foil team is also very fond of music, especially rock'n'roll? So what else could we do except ask him to write down his experience in a travel diary...in order to offer you an unusual, yet incredibly compelling city guide to our brand's hometown? Read ahead for all the details of Alex's itinerary – the results of this have been ratified and tested by international Leon Paul employees, take our word for it.

Six weeks of summer holidays without fencing? That does nothing for true fencing lovers, who will start to miss their fencing life after a couple of weeks. So Leon Paul's training camp in London in early August was the perfect match (and best mix of city trip, fencing fun, and language holiday) for Leon Paul sponsored Valentin Meka, a U14 sabre fencer from Dormagen, Germany. Want to know what happened when he decided to give up on his sunbed at the beach for a fencing piste? Read on...

Every fencer has it: a personal collection of special moments. A day you'll remember. A match ended with a close win. A competition that leaves not just medals, but memories.
For Leon Paul sponsored fencer Bas Verwijlen the 2018 edition of Challenge SNCF Réseau in Paris, one of the most important events of the worldcup series in Men's epee, does definitely belong to that category of unforgettable experiences. Read on for his full report about his day and how he made it to the podium.