June 4, 2014 – Sabre fencer Philippe Beaudry and foil fencer Kelleigh Ryan both stepped onto the second step of the podium at the Pan Am fencing Championships Tuesday in San José, Costa Rica.

The silver medal at the Pan Am Fencing Championships is a breakthrough for Philippe Beaudry. Despite gold medals at the Pan Am Games in 2007 and 2011, Beaudry only managed to win bronze a total of five times at the zone Championships. “I finally managed to break that barrier,” said an ecstatic Beaudry.

It was a challenging road to the silver medal with Beaudry having to defeat American Daryl Horner, 15-9 in the semi-final. Horner is currently ranked 12^th in the world in Sabre and was 6^th at the 2012 Olympic Games.

Beaudry faced American Eli Dershwitz in the final.  Dershwitz, silver medalist at the 2012 World Junior Championships surprised Brazilian Renzo Agresto, defending Pan Am Champion, 15-12 in his semi-final.  Dershwiz continued his winning streak by defeating Beaudry in the final 15-9. “He was focused from beginning to end and really fenced well,” stated Beaudry. “He kept me from executing my game plan.”

Kelleigh Ryan also had a personal best on Tuesday in women’s foil.  Kelleigh finished second after losing a close 15-12 to American Lee Kiefer in the final.  Kiefer who won the Junior World Championships this year was 5^th at the Olympic Games in London.

A focused Kelleigh cruised through her semi-final against Venezuelan Isis Jimenez 15-8.

"After a number of frustrating tournaments in the past couple months, I've changed my approach a bit, cut down on the amount of fencing I did and decided to rely on my training in the past,” said Ryan.  “I fenced relaxed yesterday and enjoyed the event. I think the effect of that approach shows. Yesterday’s second place was a personal best for me and I'm really happy with how I fenced. "

Canadian fencers are in action today in team competition with the men’s foil team advancing to the medal round.

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