🇺🇸 ANNA VAN BRUMMEN DEFIES SEEDINGS TO CAPTURE PAN AMERICAN EPEE GLORY

LIMA, PERU — 17 JUNE 2026

The United States’ World number 88 Anna Van Brummen completed a sensational competitive resurgence on the third day of the 2026 Pan American Fencing Championships, capturing her maiden senior individual continental title. Competing in Lima, the experienced American veteran showed remarkable technical durability across multiple tight direct elimination matches, eventually out-pointing her top-tier teammate Hadley Husisian 15–13 in an all-American gold medal final.

The phenomenal golden run marks Van Brummen's second career senior international individual title, coming a full decade after her breakout victory at the 2016 Suzhou World Cup. She added the continental crown to the individual Pan American bronze medal she secured back in 2014.

While Husisian upgraded her 2025 continental bronze to a brilliant silver, Canadian international teammates Ruien Xiao and Nicole Xuan secured the bronze steps.

Path to the Podium

Anna Van Brummen (World number 88) established a sharp competitive rhythm in the morning session, sweeping all five of her poule matches to lock down the number five seed for the direct elimination stages. Following a first-round bye, she controlled the piste to defeat Venezuela's Eliana Lugo 15–6 and Brazil's Maria Luisa Guimaraes 15–11. Van Brummen then entered a gauntlet of nail-biters, edging out USA's world number 23 Catherine Oxenreider 15–13 in the quarter-finals and out-lasting Canada's Xiao 15–14 in a breathtaking semi-final before defeating Husisian for gold.

Hadley Husisian (World number seven) fell just short of the ultimate prize but still secured a masterful silver medal to cap off a highly decorated season. The World number seven had previously claimed bronze at the Fujairah World Cup and silver at the St Maur World Cup earlier in the campaign. Husisian marched into direct elimination as the number two seed after a perfect 6–0 poule performance, routinely dispatching Chile's Ignacia Cifuentes 15–5, Brazil's Victoria Correia 15–9 and Mexico's Frania Tejeda 15–8. She booked her final berth by defeating Xuan 15–11 in the semi-finals.

Ruien Xiao (World number 12) clinched her first podium of the international season, taking home a hard-earned bronze medal to match her silver medal performance from the 2025 edition of the tournament. The Canadian standout swept all six of her poule assignments to secure the number eight seed, subsequently cruising past Peru's Alessia Yanez 15–6. Following a cagey 9–6 defensive victory over teammate Jessica Yin, Xiao pulled off a phenomenal quarter-final upset by out-pointing USA's World number nine Catherine Nixon 13–12, falling just a single touch short of the final against Van Brummen.

Nicole Xuan (World number 47) celebrated an exceptional career milestone, navigating a difficult bracket to capture her first ever individual senior international podium. Seeded eleventh after winning five of her six poule matches, Xuan showed great mental fortitude to eliminate Colombia's Salazar 15–9 and battle past Paraguay's Montserrat Viveros 14–13 in a heart-stopping round-of-16 clash. Xuan guaranteed her historic bronze by comprehensively defeating Argentina's world number 25 Isabel Di Tella 15–10 in the quarter-finals.

Full results are here.