World Cup #2 in Italy!

Shortly after I returned from Mexico I was invited to the second world cup in Italy! I had a short time after Mexico to prepare for Italy but I was excited to go to a World Cup in Europe. The competition would be in Sassari, Italy which is the island to the west of the rest of Italy. I arrived late at night and since we had not had dinner we went out to get pizza at one of the little restaurants; it was delicious! The next day we went to see the competition pool and do a little bit of training before the event. The opening ceremonies were also that night and we had semifinals the next day. Mickey Kelly and I were in the same semifinal group which was good to have someone with experience to be with. I had a pretty good swim and the fencing was difficult with a lot of good and tough athletes. I went into the combined in 26th place and moved up into 22nd place. There were three semifinal groups at this world cup. This meant that the top 12 athletes from each group would make finals, which meant that only one U.S. female athlete made finals.

One day three of the other girls and I took a train to Alghero, Italy. We were able to sit on the beach for a little and walk through parts of the city and get some Italian pizza for lunch! It was beautiful and the weather ended up being great. I stayed another day and helped out two athletes with the team relay event the next day and it was a good experience to see how the relay worked and cheer on my team. I was very glad to be home after a long trip but my fencing bag with all of my competition gear did not show up at the airport. Thankfully my bag made it back to the U.S. and I would be getting it the next afternoon. I was glad that I got to go to Italy and experience a World Cup in Europe but I am training hard so that I can work up to the level and hopefully be able to make finals soon!