Championship glory for young Wroughton fencer

Wroughton fencer Cador Beautyman was part of British Fencing’s first ever championship-winning team.

The four-man squad was competing at the European Junior Fencing Championships in Antalya, Turkey.  

Cador began fencing at the local fencing club in Swindon before moving his training to Knightsbridge Fencing Club, a  specialist epee club in London.  

He has been representing Great Britain for several years, first as a Cadet - under 17 - and now as a Junior - under 20 - and is also currently the top ranked British Senior epee fencer. 

After the final Cador said: “It was a case of everyone doing their job on the day, we complimented each other so well through the ups and downs of all the matches during the day and that final comeback from my team mate Alec was unbelievable. Great teamwork”

The British epee team went into the competition ranked 20th in the FIE World Rankings.  They met Ukraine, a traditionally strong fencing nation, in the last 16 round.  

A win against Ukraine meant they were lined up against Italy, the number one ranked team and the current European and World Champions in the quarter finals.  

This was a tough match and the British team were seven points down halfway through the match.  They stayed focussed and pulled back to even the match at 44 all.  

The match played to 45 points, so the next point would be the winner.  It was tense but Great Britain did it, knocked out the number one seeds and went on to the semi-finals against Spain.  

Though a tough match, each of the four team members played their role and it was a more comfortable victory for the British at 41-32.

The final was a very tense affair against France.  Eight seconds from the end of the match the British were three points down and all looked lost, but an amazing comeback saw the draw 44-44 at full time.  

As per the rules an extra minute was added to the clock, with the first team to make a hit taking victory.  Nerves of steel saw the British anchor man secure the win and the British supporters erupted at an amazing comeback.

British Fencing had never before won a gold medal at a major championships in any age group or weapon so this was an historic win for the team.

Cador is supported by local charity Doing it for Dan, which gives grants to young athletes and teams from Wiltshire to help them achieve their sporting dreams, and along with his British team mates Cador managed to do that.  

People can follow Cador’s fencing adventures on instagram at cador_beauts.  Next stop for this team is the World Championships in China in April.