BANGKOK — Team USA, including UC San Diego freshman Katherine Kim, won gold on Sunday in the team competition of the FIE Foil Junior World Cup with a 44-34 victory over Canada. The result gives Kim her fifth gold medal in team competitions at the junior level.
 
The event was held at the Diamond Hall in Bangkok. The team competition featured 16 countries competing in a single elimination format.
 
The United States entered the weekend ranked No. 3 in the world. The team kicked off the tournament with a 45-13 victory over No. 43 India, followed by a 45-17 result versus No. 11 Singapore. In the semifinals the Americans downed No. 4 Japan 35-25 before the 44-34 win over No. 17 Canada in the final.
 
Kim also competed in Saturday's individual competition. She advanced out of her pool and won her first knockout bout 15-8 over fellow American Katerina Lung. Kim was then defeated in the next round by another American, Jia Chen, 15-13.
 
Bangkok is the second Junior World Cup that Kim has won a team gold at in 2024, having previously won in Leipzig this March. She also picked up two team golds in 2023 at the Junior Olympics and Lima Junior World Cup. In 2022 Kim earned her first team gold at the Junior Pan American Championships.
 
A native of Tustin, California, Kim is a human biology major at Sixth College. She first fenced with the Tritons in September at the 28th annual BladeRunner tournament, where she finished third. Kim then went 19-7 in November at the West Invitational as the UC San Diego women's team finished 6-3.
 
The International Fencing Federation (FIE) puts on a number of World Cups every year. The events help determine an athlete's world ranking, which in turn are used to qualify individuals for the World Championship. This season's World Championship will be held in April 2025 in Wuxi, China.
 
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of The Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 84 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.