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.”
Hsieh has had an up-and-down season, making the main draw in two events out of four and managing her best results in the World Cup in Estonia in November, in which she finished 23rd.
But her victory – and her part in Notre Dame’s successful defence of its Conference title – set her up for the countrywide NCAA event as defending champion from March 23 to 26. Before that come the qualifiers on March 11.
“I hope I can do it again,” Hsieh said. “Pressure is the main thing I need to deal with, so in the coming weeks I need to make sure I’m getting enough rest, eating well and taking it one step at a time.”
It has caused her to miss two ranking tournaments: the Budapest Grand Prix, beginning on March 10, and the Nanjing World Cup, which starts on March 24.
However, that situation could soon be reversed: she is considering pausing her final year of study to concentrate on the Olympic qualification window, which runs from next month to April 2024.
“I have to figure out my style and incorporate tactics for the competition,” Hsieh said.
Hong Kong’s fencers hope to follow the same path to the Paris Olympics as they took to the Tokyo Games, for which they qualified by team berth and received three individual spots. Hsieh was eliminated in the individual épée’s round of 64, while the team placed seventh.
