South Orange native and Columbia High School graduate Zander Rhodes (Class of 2021) and Maplewood’s Jackie Dubrovich are two of four members of the U.S. women’s foil team that won a silver medal on Friday, July 22, at the 2022 Fencing World Championships in Egypt.
“Pretty cool that half of this silver-winning women’s foil team at the Fencing World Championships are from Mapso!” wrote CHS Fencing parent Jill Hammarberg on Facebook. “Congratulations to CHS Fencing’s Zander Rhodes (’21) and Jackie Dubrovich, coached by CHS Fencing’s Brian Kaneshige (’11).
Team USA’s women’s foil team celebrates its victory in the semifinals, which guaranteed the Americans another medal at the 2022 Fencing World Championships. (Photo by #BizziTeam)
The medal was Team USA’s third of the tournament and best showing at a Senior Worlds since 2018. Two other USA team squads are competing in the 9th and final day of competition on July 23.
This is Xander Rhodes first Worlds’ medal and Dubrovich’s second. The other women’s foil team members are Olympic gold medalist Lee Kiefer and Maia Weintraub, who — like Rhodes — is just 19 years old. Dubrovich, who also represented Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics, moved to Maplewood with her coach and fiancé, Columbia High grad Brian Kaneshige, in 2020. She trains at the New Jersey Fencing Alliance in Maplewood.
Read more about the competition here.
