Kaylin Hsieh bags gold at NCAA Fencing Championships, becomes second Hong Kong athlete to win women’s épée title
- 20-year-old Notre Dame student goes one better than last year by beating Harvard opponent 15-10 in final
- Vivian Kong was first Hong Kong fencer to win title when competing for Stanford in 2014
Kaylin Hsieh Sin-yan did what she set out to do at the NCAA Fencing Championships, claiming gold in the women’s épée and laying down a marker for the Asian Games in the process.
The Notre Dame student became the second Hong Kong fencer to claim the title, following in the footsteps of Vivian Kong Man-wai, who won it while representing Stanford in 2014.
Hsieh, who narrowly lost in the final a year ago to Laura Fekete, has improved dramatically since then, a process helped by her appearance at the Tokyo Olympics last August.
The 20-year-old dominated the competition, compiling a 21-2 record, with her two defeats in pool stage. She even took revenge on Fekete, beating the Long Island University student 15-10 to set up a final clash with Emily Vermeule of Harvard.
Hsieh, who beat Vermeule in the final of the 2018 junior World Championships, was too good again, winning 15-10.
The promising fencer said she became more mature after her maiden Olympic appearance in Tokyo last summer.
“I am more consistent now compared to last year’s final when I also failed to deliver some of my techniques,” she said. “I also did well in the World Cup series after the Olympics because of the same reason, do the right thing at the right time.