U.S. takes home its first gold medal in women’s team foil behind strong performances from Scruggs, Kiefer

Lee Kiefer became the first American fencer to win three Olympic gold medals as the U.S. got its first-ever team fencing gold in women’s foil at the Paris Olympics on Thursday.

The team of two-time individual gold medalist Kiefer, silver medalist Lauren Scruggs, Jacqueline Dubrovich and Maia Weintraub held on for a 45-39 win over Italy in the final.

Scruggs faced a late rally from Italy’s Arianna Errigo, who cut an eight-point U.S. lead to three, but the 21-year-old took the next three points to close out the win and celebrated with a shout of delight.

Weintraub, the U.S. team’s alternate, was substituted into the final and immediately faced Italy’s most experienced fencer, the 2012 gold medalist Errigo. That didn’t faze Weintraub, who went 6-4 against Errigo and 11-5 in her two matchups.

Kiefer earlier turned around the semifinal bout against Canada, going a combined 23-12 in her three matchups, including 13-4 against 16-year-old Yunjia Zhang when the U.S. had been four points down. The U.S. won 45-39.

The U.S. now has four fencing medals at the Paris Olympics and two gold medals in fencing at the same Olympics for the first time, as well as a first-ever team gold for the U.S.

An American fencer, Albertson Van Zo Post, won two gold medals at the 1904 St. Louis Games but one of those was a team event in which he competed alongside two Cuban fencers. That medal is officially considered a “mixed team” win, not a U.S. gold.

Japan won its first women’s fencing medal of the Paris Olympics with a 33-32 win over Canada in the bronze-medal bout.