With the 2023-24 domestic Cadet (U17) ranking season finished, and with last season’s carry-over points removed (and other nationalities in the rankings taken out of the equation), we now know where our fencers are ranked based solely on their performances in the British Ranking Competitions (BRCs) this season. A roll on the drums, please…
GIRLS:
6th Eilidh Paterson (10,575 points)
19th Andrea Ross (5,534)
22nd Izzie D’Abbraccio (4,994)
32nd Daisy Beadsworth (3,403)
33rd Hiba Rochdi (3,280)
34th Annabelle Lavin (2,889)
53rd Hannah Taylor (656)*
* Didn’t do half of the ranking comps
BOYS:
8th Lloyd Osborne (12,097)
40th Zach Bench (2,768)
75th Alec Hargreaves (652)
These rankings could change a bit before the end of the international season due to European Fencing Confederation (EFC) U17 events in Copenhagen, Bratislava, Belgrade and Krakow, as well as the European & World Champs. However, as it’s only the top 14 fencers in action in Copenhagen and Bratislava – which are ‘Nominated’ by British Fencing and therefore score 5-7 times more ranking points than the other two comps – the resulting changes will be limited to a potential reshuffle at the top of the tree. It’s worth noting, though, that BF has designated Belgrade and Krakow as ‘Development’ competitions, which means that any Cadet in the top 40 can apply for entry, so there could be the odd sneaky leapfrog going on from fencers outside the top 14.
Starter’s orders
Assuming the rankings stay more-or-less the same, and that British Fencing won’t tinker with the selection system in the meantime, we can guesstimate in what ranking positions our continuing Cadet fencers will start the 2024-25 season by doing the following:
- Removing the final-year Cadets (born 2007) from the projected rankings;
- Factoring in the 35% carry-over of this season’s points to next season; and
- Predicting which fencers with an U14 transition bonus for making the podium at the British Youth Championships (BYCs) in April/May 2024 could leapfrog their way up the rankings.
With this in mind, the guesstimated positions are:
GIRLS:
2nd Eilidh (3,701)
11th Andrea (1,936)
14th Izzie (1,749)
24th-26th Daisy (1,191)
25th-27th Hiba (1,148)
BOYS:
3rd Lloyd (4,233)
23rd-26th Zach (968)
45th-48th Alec (228)*
* Could be as high as 1,500 if he wins the BYC U14 title, and his ranking could be as high as 20th.
Looking ahead
Incredibly, RTWFC has a shot at making up about 20% of the British Euro Cadet Circuit team for the first EFC U17 event of next season (that’s assuming BF selects 20 fencers like it did this season)! But how does one get on this team?
Lloyd and Eilidh are in strong positions, and just with carry-over alone will be selected for the first Euro Cadet Circuit comp of 2024-25. This season, at the first selection point, the 20th fencer in the rankings had around 2,200 points (Girls) and 2,800 points (Boys). So, how does one accumulate these points?
The BRCs are either the National Championships or A or B grades, which have multipliers of 200, 175 and 100 respectively. If you finish 1st at the Cadet Nationals it scores 4,000 points (the ‘final position multiplication factor’ for 1st is 20, so it’s 20 x 200 points); 3rd is about 2,800; 8th 2,200; 16th 1,500; 32nd 1,100, and so on. The A grades score a slightly lower amount and B grades score only half of these points. Note that you have to finish in the top 80% to score more than 1 point at a BRC, and only your top 6 finishes count towards your ranking points total.
With two B grades usually held before the first selection point in the season (typically, this is early September), and top 32 finishes in both, our fencers can add 1,200 points to their total, while two last 16s will add 1,800. If you start the season with carry-over of about 1,000, two top 16 finishes should be enough to secure selection for the first Euro Cadet event of the season (again, assuming that BF selects 20 male and 20 female fencers). The Cadet National Champs, with its chance to add as many points in one go as two B grades put together, is usually held in September. You may need to make the best of this potential points bonanza, though, because BF might only select the top 14 in the rankings after the Nationals for the second EFC U17 event of the season. The points difference between 20th and 14th can be as much as 2,000, so if you start the season outside the top 20, you may well need three last-16 finishes in a row to make inroads into the top 20.
In this respect, it is crucial that you beat your closest rivals when you fence them – especially in direct elimination bouts, because if you knock them out you’ll score more points than them and can either overtake them in the rankings (if they’re ahead) or stay ahead of them (if they’re behind).
It’s in Europe at the comps that BF nominates for selection that you can really start racking up the points: finishing 64th will score about 3,500 points, and winning will score 20,000 points or more. Wowser! We’ll cover the European Circuit in more detail, and how to qualify for the Euro & World Champs, in another article.