Tia wins gold in Pan American Fencing Championships

Plymouth College’s Tia Simms-Lymn, 15, who fences for Jamaica, has won the Pan American U17 Epeé Championships in Toronto.

In a tough pool, she won three of her five fights and was seeded 7th going into the knockout phase. In her last 16 fight she overcame Catalina Leiva of Chile 15-6. In the quarter finals she drew another Chilean, Analia Fernandez, who she beat 15-8.The semi-final saw Tia up against one of the local favourites Monica Lubczynski. The Canadian was the 3rd seed and the recent silver medallist in Krakow, Poland, at a European ranking event. Tia fenced with great maturity and a good tactical awareness. In an exciting fight Tia ran out the 15-13 winner.

The final was three hours later against the number one seed, Alexanne Verret, who up to that point was undefeated. The fight proved to be very tactical with both fencers not wanting to risk too much. The final ended in a narrow 11-9 victory for Tia.

Tia’s win has capped an incredible nine months, which she started last May when she won both the GB U16 Epeé and Foil Championships. She then qualified for the Youth Olympics in Nanjing in August and reached the last 8. This was followed up in November when, as the youngest competitor by five years, Tia became the Commonwealth senior silver medallist. In January she made her first senior World Cup appearance, competing in Barcelona and finishing an amazing 38th out of 233 of the world’s best adult fencers.

Just two days after her U17 Pan American victory, Tia is currently competing in the U20 event. Her coach, Andy Hill, who is Plymouth College’s Director of Modern Pentathlon and Fencing, says: “Tia is beginning to fulfil her potential and with hard work and dedication she has a possible chance of qualifying for the Rio Olympics.”