Marcus Mepstead
| Marcus Mepstead | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country represented | Great Britain | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
11 May 1990 London, United Kingdom | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Weapon(s) | foil | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Hand | right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 77 kg (170 lb; 12.1 st) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| National coach(es) | Andrey Kluyshin | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Sussex House Fencing Club | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Head coach(es) | Mark Nelson Griffiths | |||||||||||||||||||||
| FIE Ranking | current ranking | |||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Marcus Mepstead (born 11 May 1990, London) is a British foil fencer, team bronze medallist at the 2010[1] and 2013 European Championships,[2] and team gold medallist at the 2015 European Games.[3] He is the 2016 British National Champion.
Career
Mepstead started fencing as an after-school activity.[4] He was a member of the team that earned a bronze medal at the 2010 European Championships in Leipzig, Great Britain's first medal at the major fencing event since 1965,[1] becoming youngest British athlete to medal at European Fencing Championships. He took part in the 2011 Summer Universiade.[5] Great Britain earned another European bronze medal two years later in Zagreb.[6]
In 2014 he was drafted into the British World Class Programme ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympics.[7] In the 2014–15 season he took part in the first edition of the European Games held in Baku. Great Britain defeated France, then managed a surprise win against favourites Italy to earn the gold medal.[8] In April 2016 he was named a reserve for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro coming on to fight against Russia, Egypt and China as Great Britain finished 6th in the Team Event.[9]
Personal life
In 2014 Marcus Mepstead graduated with a 2.1 BSc Honours degree in geography and economics at the London School of Economics. Whilst studying he was part of the University of London Union team that earned promotion to first division. He was awarded full purples for his involvement as well as earning a sports ambassador role within the university.[10] Currently he trains full-time, working with the British Athletes Commission as well as mentoring and coaching at clubs and schools.
References
- 1 2 "London 2012: Fencing progress report". The Guardian. 26 July 2010.
- ↑ "British foil fencers win European Championship team bronze". BBC. 21 June 2013.
- ↑ "European Games: Britain win fencing foil gold". BBC. 27 June 2015.
- ↑ "Marcus Mepstead". Beazley British Fencing.
- ↑ Shanna Chu. "Britain's Biggest Ever Delegation Joins Shenzhen Universiade". lifeofguangzhou.com.
- ↑ "Fencing - Great Britain pick up men's foil team bronze at European Championships". Yahoo! Sport. 21 June 2013.
- ↑ Daniel Etchells (29 May 2015). "British Fencing's Elite Training Centre formally opened". insidethegames.biz.
- ↑ Mark Staniforth (27 June 2015). "Baku Games 2015: Great Britain's fencing team stun reigning champions Italy for gold". Evening Standard.
- ↑ "British Fencing Olympic selection meeting". British Fencing. 5 April 2016.
- ↑ "LSE Sports Ambassadors". LSE Students' Union.
External links
- Profile at the European Fencing Confederation