Maia Mei Weintraub of Philadelphia won on April 7 a Junior Team Women’s Foil with her U.S. teammates, Rachael Kim, Zander Rhodes and Lauren Scruggs, at the 2022 Junior and Cadet World Fencing Championships in Dubai.
Hosted by the world governing body of fencing, the International Fencing Federation, the event is the world championships for fencers under age 20.
Team USA competed against athletes from Italy, Japan, Ukraine, Canada, the Czech Republic, Poland, Spain, Korea, Israel, Hong Kong, Romania, Brazil, Austria, Mexico, Turkey, France, Egypt, Great Britain, Hungary, the United Arab Emirates, Germany Kazakhstan, India, Moldova, the Philippines, Denmark, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, Singapore and Sweden.
Weintraub, a student of Fencing Academy of Philadelphia since age 9, is a first-year student at Princeton University; last month, she won the foil title at her NCAA Championships debut. She became Princeton’s second foil champion, its first in 22 years and the sixth NCAA individual champion in Tiger fencing history.
She was an alternate member of Team USA in the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Weintraub, who was featured by the Jewish Exponent in December 2020, explained then why she enjoyed fencing.
“Fencing is very unique. I feel like it’s not one of those sports where you can just pick up a foil or weapon and just start. You have to dedicate yourself to learning the art of fencing before you can actually do it,” she said. “And I think that dedicating that time and choosing to do it makes it special.”
