Fresh from her silver medal at the Wratislava Challenge in Poland, Plymouth College fencer, Tia Simms Lymn, 15, has been crowned both the U16 Epeé and U16 Foil champion in the British Youth Fencing Championships. Held in Sheffield, it is one of the biggest events on the fencing calendar with about 1000 athletes from around the country taking part.
In the epeé competition, Tia breezed into the semi-final where she overcame Amelia Hide from team Newcastle 15-6. In the final she was up against a familiar opponent, Danielle Lawson, from Worcester. In the past the honours have been fairly even but on this occasion Tia prevailed 15-12.
The following day, fresh from her epeé victory, Tia set her cap at achieving a rarely accomplished feat – to win two separate British titles on consecutive days in two different weapons.
Tia again fenced her way effortlessly into the semis dispatching her opponents easily. In the last four she came up against the number 2 seed, Sarah Barrett, and in a classy encounter held her opponent at arms length to record a 15-9 victory. In the final, Tia was drawn against the pre-tournament favourite, Beth Ellis, and in a completely one-sided match she won 15-4.
Plymouth College Director of Modern Pentathlon and Fencing, Andy Hill, was rightly proud of his Jamaican International pupil. Andy said: “Tia was a class apart in these championships and nobody seemed to know how to beat her. This was her 8th national title in four years, which is a really impressive achievement.”
Benjamin Andrews won a bronze medal in the U14 Boys’ Epeé. Reaching the top eight and byes into next year’s event were: Kerenza Bryson 5th U16 Girls’ Epeé, Catherine Bishop 6th U16 Girls’ Epeé and Piers Du Pree-Thomas 7th U14 Boys’ Epeé.