Road to Paris 2024: beating US college elite could propel Hong Kong fencer to Olympics
- With qualifying for Paris 2024 about to start, Kaylin Hsieh Sin-yan has become the first Hongkonger to win the Atlantic Coast Conference title
- She plans to skip world ranking events to try to repeat her winning formula at the forthcoming national college competition
Hong Kong fencer Kaylin Hsieh Sin-yan has won a prestigious Atlantic coast colleges competition in the United States and hopes to triumph again in the America-wide version as she builds up to a tilt at the Olympics.
With the qualifying period for the Paris 2024 Games set to begin next month, Notre Dame student Hsieh received a boost at the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Fencing Championships at Boston College, claiming both the individual and team épée titles at her first attempt. It was also a first for a Hongkonger.
Hsieh, the world No 97, beat Hungary’s world No 14 Eszter Muhari – her college teammate – in the semi-finals of the individual event, before seeing off Chloe Beittel of the US in Sunday’s final.
Next up, later this month, is the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Fencing Championships, which Hsieh won last year.
“It was a mental challenge [last weekend],” said the 21-year-old, who topped the table after 13 round-robin pool matches, having missed previous years’ ACC events because of injury and the pandemic.
“I was very excited to fence Eszter – I have never fenced her in a competition setting, not at FIE [International Fencing Federation] or collegiate level. I’m just glad I fenced well and got the results, because I haven’t been able to perform well recently in ranking competitions.”