Canadian fencer Eleanor Harvey has won Canada’s second medal of the Paris Olympics, capturing bronze in the women’s individual foil on Sunday.
The 29-year-old from Hamilton topped Italy’s Alice Volpi 15-12 for the win, which marks Canada’s best-ever finish in an individual fencing event.
Harvey’s aggressive start paid off with the 12th-ranked Canadian chalking up the first three points of the match.
The No. 3-seed Italian battled back and cut the deficit to 6-3 before Harvey replied with a series of strikes that gave her a 9-4 lead heading into the second round.
Volpi was ferocious to start the middle frame, scoring six straight points to level the score at 10-10.
Harvey continued to fight and, when the referee confirmed she had scored the decisive point, she dropped to her knees.
WATCH | Harvey wins historic medal for Canada:
Eleanor Harvey of Hamilton, Ont., bested Alice Volpi of Italy in the women’s foil individual bronze medal bout to claim Canada’s first-ever Olympic medal in fencing.
Swimmer Summer McIntosh won Canada’s first medal of the Games — a silver — in the women’s 400-metre freestyle on Saturday.
Lauren Scruggs of the U.S. beat Harvey 15-9 in the semifinals and will battle fellow American — and reigning Olympic champion — Lee Keifer for gold later on Sunday.
Canada making waves
Canadian fencers, not known for contending for Olympic medals, have been making waves in Paris.
On Saturday, Fares Arfa of Laval, Que., upset three-time defending Olympic champion Aron Szilagyi of Hungary in men’s sabre competition before narrowly losing to eventual gold medallist Oh Sang-uk of South Korea in the quarterfinals. That was the best Olympic result by a Canadian fencer until Harvey topped it a day later.
Earlier, Harvey posted a 15-14 come-from-behind victory over fourth-seeded Italian Martina Favaretto in the quarterfinals. She also beat Poland’s Julia Walczyk-Klimaszyk 14-6 in the Round of 16 and China’s Wang Yuting 12-8 in the opening round.
Paris marks Harvey’s third Olympics. She finished seventh in women’s individual foil at Rio in 2016 and came fifth in women’s team foil at the Tokyo Games.
Harvey was a silver medallist in both the individual and team foil events in her third Pan Am Games last year in Santiago, Chile.
In other Round of 16 results, Toronto’s Jessica Guo was defeated 15-11 by Scruggs and Yunjia Zhang, also from Toronto, fell 15-5 to Hungary’s Flora Pasztor.
Also on Sunday, Nicholas Zhang of Richmond, B.C., lost 15-11 to Venezuela’s Grabiel Lugo in the opening round of the men’s epee.