American Olympic foil fencer
| Nick Itkin |
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| Born | (1999-10-09) October 9, 1999 (age 24)
Los Angeles, California, United States |
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| Nationality | American |
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| Height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) [1] |
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| Weight | 157 lb (71 kg) [1] |
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| Country | United States |
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| Sport | Fencing |
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| Weapon | Foil |
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| Hand | right-handed |
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| Club | Los Angeles International Fencing Center[2] |
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| Head coach | Michael Itkin |
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| FIE ranking | current ranking |
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Nick Itkin (born October 9, 1999) is an American right-handed foil fencer. Itkin is a two-time individual NCAA champion, 2023 Individual Pan American Games Gold Medalist, two-time individual World Championship medalist , and 2021 team Olympic bronze medalist.[3] Nick Itkin took foil silver at the world fencing championships to become the first U.S. man, and third U.S. fencer overall, to win an individual medal at back-to-back worlds.[4]
Early life
Itkin was born in Los Angeles, CA. His parents are Michael ("Misha"; a fencing coach) and Tatiana (a former rhythmic gymnast, and current coach).[5][6][7] His older sister Julia competed in rhythmic gymnastics for the US national team.[7] He attended Palisades High School, graduating in 2017.[7]
Fencing career
2015–19; Junior World Champion
Itkin trains under his father at Los Angeles International Fencing Center, which his father founded in 2003.[6] In 2015, he was a Cadet Junior Olympics bronze medalist, and in 2016 he was a Cadet Pan American Championships gold medalist.[8] In 2017 he was a Junior Pan American Championships silver medalist.[8]
At the 2018 Junior World Fencing Championships in Verona, Italy, Itkin won the gold medal in foil.[9] He defeated future world silver medalist Tommaso Marini of Italy in the final.[10] He also won a team bronze medal at the championships.[1] When he then also won consecutive NCAA Fencing Championships in foil, in 2018 and 2019 as he fenced for the University of Notre Dame where he studied political science, he decided to pursue fencing at the senior level.[8][11][12] In 2018 he became the first American fencer to win gold medals at all three of the NCAA Fencing Championships, the US National Fencing championships, and the Junior World Fencing Championship in the same year.[13][14] In 2019 he also won a team gold medal at the 2019 Pan American Fencing Championships in Toronto, Canada.[15]
2020–present; Olympic bronze medalist, World Championship silver and bronze medalist
Itkin won the gold medal at a 2020 World Cup in Paris, becoming the youngest top-10 foil fencer in the world.[6] Among other victories, in the competition he defeated the reigning world champion and world # 3 Enzo Lefort of France, and the reigning Olympic champion Daniele Garozzo of Italy.[16]
In 2021, Itkin won the US National Championship in foil, in Philadelphia.[6]
At the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, at 21 years of age, Itkin won a bronze medal with Team USA in the men's team foil competition.[17][5] He came in 12th in the individual men's foil competition at the Olympics.[1] At the 2022 Pan American Fencing Championships in Asunción, Paraguay, he won a team gold medal, and an individual bronze medal.[18]
Itkin, the 23-year-old fencing phenom and Notre Dame graduate who trains at the renowned Los Angeles International Fencing Center won a silver medal in Men’s Foil on Thursday, the sixth day of the 2023 Fencing World Championships in Italy.
With the medal, Itkin has now won three Senior Worlds medals in the past two years: individual bronze and team silver in 2022 and now individual silver in 2023.[19]
Itkin won an individual bronze medal in men's foil at the 2022 World Fencing Championships in Cairo, Egypt.[14] In the competition, he defeated among others world # 6 Takahiro Shikine of Japan and former world champion and current world # 3 Alessio Foconi of Italy, before losing to the reigning world champion Enzo Lefort of France by a score of 15–14.[14]
5x National Champion
In Division I Men’s Foil, Nick Itkin OLY took the win — again. He has won five of the last six national championships in his weapon (2017, 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023), but this one proved especially difficult because he was coming off an injury that had sidelined him for about five weeks. With five Division I national championships to his name, Itkin is now fourth on the all-time list of men’s foil fencers with the most national indoor titles.[20]
