FE W F Individual Shanghai CHN GP 2016 Final podium KIEFER USA vs ERRIGO ITA

And he'll be supported on the video by Olga Kuchikar of Moldova, Czech Republic, Villa Mada, Moldova for Kuchikar. And joining me back in the commentary box, head foil coach of the USA, Greg Marciales. Greg, welcome back. Look, I know you're going to be rooting for Lee here, and it would be crazy for anyone to think that you weren't. But just put away your USA leanings for a short while. In all honesty, who's going to win this match, do you think? This is going to be a tough match for Lee. I mean, this is the girl that she lost to in London at the Olympics in the quarterfinals. And it's a tough match. I mean, I think that Erigo is, I think of all the top players, that's probably the toughest matchup for Lee. So, you know, I would say you look at things probably with favorite Erigo. But, you know, Lee has a nice little spunk of energy. She's able to, like, mix things up and get into distance when the action happens. I think she's got a good shot at it as well. But, you know, if you look at the overall records of things, probably Erigo is obviously, Ariana is probably favorite overall. I think you're probably right. We haven't seen too much evidence of the flu that Erigo has purportedly been suffering since that last 16 fight where she was all at sea. She was in real big trouble, actually. But against Fibus, Fibus didn't seem to, you know, she was able to control the combo. And this is what I think is going to be the key in this match, to be honest with you, Greg. The dancing style of Lee Kiefer, if it works at the beginning, then I think it might start leaning towards Kiefer as a potential gold medalist here. But if she fails early on and then starts to back off and slow down, I think that just plays into Erigo's hands. But what remains to be seen is right in front of you now. We are underway. In fact, it's Erigo who's pushing Kiefer right to the back line straight away. This is what Erigo loves to do anyway. She likes to go after you and just show you I'm the big bad wolf and take you down. It's good. Lee's showing a nice bit of patience. Change of line there at the end, but just hitting the shoulder or the mask. Just get the distance and work it in there. She bit a little too soon and Ariana was able to finish her beat attack. So first blood Italy. They've met there by Lee Kiefer and Satim, I think, the set line seven. Except that she didn't get close to the finish line, she got too close. She's got to get that, make the action in the right distance for her to reach and touch. Always the key. Nice attack. Real build up there. Little change in pace halfway through and then an explosion at the end. Levels things up. It's a nice preparation to get the distance and then allow your action to follow through right away. Ariana pulled the distance. She couldn't reach and then, boom, nails her afterwards. Pulled the distance. Just open up the distance enough to make Kiefer miss. But in the meantime, landed a stop hit. Bit of a trademark for Ariana Erigo. Absolutely. When all else fails, nothing a little partiality here. You're not here to be impartial. That's my job. You cheer away, Greg. The thing I think is that if this match goes longer, I think that favors, we tend to favor Lee. Because she's, Erigo is maintaining distance, she's keeping her legs. She will, like, get a little more tired. Yes, yes. And if this flu is playing a factor, yeah, absolutely. Kiefer there stepping into distance beautifully and blocking out using her sword arm. Erigo stepped into her distance because she thought she was going to go back, right? Yeah, they're both playing with each other's distance and that's the idea of the game. And they've got to keep adapting right the way through. And in close quarters where you'd favor the shorter fencer, it's Erigo that comes out on top just a bit sharper. Erigo is very good in close. Erigo is actually very good because she's quite tall so she can go over the top. Yeah, as she did. Kind of like a preem hit or even underneath. She's very good at that backside. But there's not much of Kiefer to hit. She's tiny. Right, that's true. And she moves. Yeah, she moves like a rocket, yeah. So a slow start compared to the other semifinals that we saw. But actually it's just, let's say, one minute and we've had eight hits. So whilst it was a cautious start, they sped it up and Kiefer has come out to play. It's when she does that preparation now, the skip at the start, Erigo is now starting to attack straight into it. It's almost like a tell in poker. As soon as Kiefer skips, Erigo goes. See, when Erigo's got you at the two meter and she's coming at you, it's tough. You've got to really be on your game to get out of that space. People don't always understand that fatigue is part of it. If you can make your front opponent work, work, work, work. If you can get further in the game, the person's pushing, pushing, pushing, then at the end, you can be a little fresher. It makes all the difference. Yeah, absolutely. Kiefer is having to work, even on the back line. But she's working actively. The other one's harder having to push if she's a big person. Well, that attack failing this time and closing the distance again from the Italians. We watch here, look, it lands right in the middle of the stomach of Kiefer and blocks out with the sword arm. Nice, that is really good. Second intention, she's come back, she was close and closed it out to hit. Yeah, very nice hit and block out as well. Oh, but there, doesn't work twice. The acceleration is beautiful though, isn't it? The change is a slow step, fast lunge. And it's also seeing, I got hit on this and how I adapt, you know. Beautiful cart disengage riposte there from the Italian. She has taken a commanding lead now. Same as the previous match, it was 9-5. Nice attack though. This is where Lee, Lee can now keep staying in it, not really let it open up too much. You're going to be able to have a match at the end. She got surprised. There's a little flat footed, I have to say, from Kiefer there. I think she just got surprised in that action. She was thinking of something and got hit in the process. You have to think constantly, but you have to move your feet too. Oh, nice attack again. Beautiful, nice. Broke the tempo, the distance, and then was able to make it happen. Let's see. Are we going to step in or go forward? Let's see. That was a very wide feint as well. Really drew a big cart parry. See, there she comes in. See, I knew that. Because she's got the long one, now she's going to come in. That's why you're here. Opening up the distance. Close quarters again. It's that prime riposte you were talking about earlier on. She's so strong. It's a lefty-righty. It's a sort of favorite move I had when I was fencing. Was that before electrics? Neanderthal times. Sharpened sticks in caves, eh? Oh, that's a beautiful, beautiful hit from Erica. And it's the variety as well that she's displaying. It's the change of game. Both of them are doing different things. Makes it exciting. And these have been three great matches we've seen tonight. And finally, it's a parry riposte. And the first yell that we've heard from any of the fencers tonight. Right. That's the first sign of real passion shown. And I think it's because Erica feels that she's got this one now. And at 14-7. Well, that was a critical touch for her. So if Lee could get a couple of touches, we'll see. But it's tough. Still dancing around. Soft intention, off target. Referee called that. Parry riposte, off target. Blades met in the middle. Stop hit block again. That was nice. That's Kiefer doing an erigo on erigo. Right. See, erigo is like trying to get over and done with. Let's get this over with. And then that fell into her. So now she's going to go slow again and set it up. We'll see what happens with it. There we go for the second time. Asks the referee to restart the match. Parry. No riposte. Off target. It's only a matter of time before erigo is going to step in there. And there it is. And a big, big yell. There she yelled. A big yell. Ariana Erigo wins this tournament. 15-8. It was dominant display in the end. Strong fencing. But really quality fencing on both sides. They both tried to do things, change back and forth. Lee was able to make some changes. That kind of caught my surprise a little bit. And then Ariana, like I said, she's tough. And it's a tough matchup for Lee. I think in many ways their styles are such that, you know,