By Sophia Moreno
Staff Writer
Sweat dripping down his chin and cascading to his neck, junior Chaney Gao’s heart rate rapidly increased, finally reaching its max. Aha, I’ve got him now! Gao lunges forward, the steel blade of his fabre striking his opponent’s chest, ending the duel in victory after numerous minutes of overtime. Instantly, the surrounding crowd explodes with applause, congratulating Gao as he removes his epee mask, concluding his first international tournament.
Dueling numerous cadet fencers from around the world, Gao placed 12 out of 288 at the Hungarian Fencing Federation European Cadet Circuit competition in Budapest, Hungary from Oct. 14 to 15.
“When in high-performance tournaments like the one in Hungary, after losing one match I wasn’t able to calm myself down back to my peak performance levels,” Gao said. “But I was still able to try my best in the state I was in, and ended up being in the top five Americans to do well in the competition.”
Now fifth in the cadet nation’s rankings, Gao practices consistently from 5 to 10 p.m. at Sword Fencing Studio in Pasadena with Tigran Shaginian, a four time Russian national champion in fencing. Gao quickly worked his way up the fencing confederation’s top 20, placing third out of more than 300 other fencers at the 2023 Summer Fencing Nationals, ninth at March North American Cup and 14th at the 2023 Cadet Men’s Epee Junior Olympics.
“Chaney is a hardworking fencer that has proven that with determination and endurance you can achieve great things,” Coach Shaginian said. “He always had a good sense of things with his desire to learn and be better at fencing.”
He began practicing at the age of 10, inspired by his sister, Aretha Gao, who currently plays for Duke University’s fencing team.
After taking a four-year gap to focus on school, Gao regained his passion for fencing at the end of the pandemic, but the lack of training made it difficult to get back into the sport.
“After losing to someone who was less experienced, I didn’t see myself progressing,” Gao said. “But after talking to my coach, he put passion in me, sparking up my past fencing flame.”
In the upcoming months, Gao plans to advance from cadet to junior traveling to numerous parts of Europe for tournaments, potentially securing his spot on USA’s team at the 2024 Junior and Cadet World Fencing Championships in Saudi Arabia, featuring over 100 countries. To qualify, Gao must place in the top three in the U.S. Afterwards, Gao hopes to play for the Junior World Fencing Team in U20 fencers. The world of fencing consists of seven age groups, ranging from Youth-10, born 2013 and up, to Veteran, born 1970 and below. Currently, Gao plays for the U17 cadet age category. After the Fencing Championships in Feb. he will progress to the junior age group where new tournaments will open up.
“The reason why NBA stars are in the NBA is not because they just wanted to win, but because they enjoyed it,” Gao said. “Train because you like it, not because you want to win. With this in mind, you will be able to play freely and to your best ability.”