Second of 10 tournament into the Olympics qualification – I needed to up my game following my dismal results in Paris. If that experience has taught me anything, it is that every time I focus on the result, pressure is crushes me down and I can't deliver. I focused my energy on creating a situation in my head where I only had to survive through the day. No need for fancy actions, no need for overthinking, no need for moving like a maniac on the strip. Strict minimum to survive (in other words: win). My teammate Vincent Pelletier, who has a lot of experience on the circuit and saw me fence for my whole career, told me in the warm-up that I shouldn't move too much, like in Chile where I won Silver. My opinion on the situation plus his expertise confirmed my game plan.

The preliminary round went according to plan. I finished with three victories and three defeats. Of those six bouts, I had four overtime sudden death bouts. That means the score was tie at the end of the three minutes and the first one to score a point afterwards would win. I was still doing my "strict minimum" plan and it was working pretty well. I won three of those four bouts! I was able to perform under the pressure and I was still able to stay cool-headed and rational even though losing those bouts would have meant that my day would have been pretty much over. I was trying to survive the first round and I did it.

During the elimination, my first opponent was the American Jimmy Moody. I've seen Jimmy fencing for about a decade while doing tournaments in the States and in Cadet/Junior World Cups. He always was couple of notches over my game and every time we fenced, he crushed me. Earlier this season, I lost to him in a really close bout. It's proof of a major upgrade in my fencing to be able to have a fighting chance against a fencer like him. He has very fast footwork and probably the fastest hand in North America! It makes him a very dangerous fencer. I took the lead from the start and fought all bout long to keep it. At one point, it was 9-8 for me with a minute and a half to go at the last period. I scored 4 hits in a row giving me a big lead at the end. I thought that the job was done for a second and Jimmy, an experienced fencer, took that chance and scored also 4 hits in a row bringing the score back to 13-12 for me. I took everything that I had left to fight and scored the last 2 hits. That was another big step in my fencing. I proved to myself that I have everything to beat a faster and stronger fencer. The 15-12 victory gave me a ticket for the next bout. One more win to have access to the second day of the event. 

My next opponent was the Israeli Grigori Beskin. I saw him fence recently in Paris where he beat my teammate Hugues Boisvert-Simard 15-8, so I knew he was a very strong fencer. Beskin is a very patient fencer with a strong technical background. I started the bout by taking the lead while he was figuring out my style. Then, he adapted his fencing to take the lead from me. He was pushing me in the end of my zone to launch his attacks. I stopped stepping back and started attacking into his preparation to take the lead back. After regulation time, the score was 9-9. I fenced in overtime for the fifth time that day and I felt pretty good about it. I was confident that I could do this. I prepared my final attack but he parried it at the last second and scored the winning touche for his 10-9 victory. It was over for me but I did not have any regrets because I gave everything that I had.

That was the last tournament for the qualification of World Championships and Pan Am Games this summer. I will be representing Canada at both events! This was one of the main goal of the season and I achieved it. I am pretty happy about the performance that I've done even though the result is a bit lower than I wanted. Losing by one hit and going home with a bitter taste is part of the sport. If I keep fencing like this at Worlds and Pan Am Games in two months, I know I won't have any regrets and I will be in the best position to perform at my maximum potential. I now have two months to prepare for them. Let the training continue!