Germany’s Schmidt on the up as Tokyo 2020 edges closer

Twenty-year-old German wheelchair fencer Maurice Schmidt is fast making a name for himself as he looks to make his World Championships and Paralympic Games debut in the next 12 months.

Having started out in 2012, two years later Schmidt made it onto the podium at the 2016 International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports (IWAS) Youth World Games in Staadskanal, the Netherlands. At the next edition the following year, he topped the podium in both epee and foil category A.

A series of medals followed for the then newcomer at IWAS Wheelchair Fencing junior World Championships before he broke onto the senior podium with a third place in epee at a World Cup in Eger, Hungary, in 2017.

With his eyes fixed on a Paralympic debut at Tokyo 2020, Schmidt flung open the qualification window in Tblisi, Georgia, with a World Cup bronze in epee in late 2018. Two more podiums in Kyoto, Japan, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, followed and have given the German more confidence.

“I am really happy with my performance since the Paralympics qualification started,” Schmidt said.

“In epee I could win a medal in every region, I couldn´t even dream of these results before. My results in sabre could have been better, but as it is just my second weapon I am not too worried about it. I still know I do many mistakes, but the fact that I can still improve pushes me further.”

Before Tokyo 2020 though, wheelchair fencers are aiming for good performances at the 2019 IWAS Wheelchair Fencing World Championships in Cheongju, South Korea from 17-23 September.

It will be Schmidt’s senior debut. He has modest aims and is aware that his medal-winning performances have started to draw the attention of his competitors:

“I want to reach the quarterfinals in both weapons [foil and epee] but I also want to see if I can decrease the amount of mistakes I do in general.”

A place at the next Paralympics in 12 months time would be the culmination of six years of hard work. Schmidt began fencing in 2012 when a friend of his mother saw a wheelchair fencing demonstration and had the idea he might like to try it.

Just one year later he was top of the pile at the German nationals before going onto international success. Since then he has been training four times a week and plans to increase that as Tokyo 2020 gets closer. He will also take a step back from university.

“I set the Paralympics 2020 as my goal pretty early in my fencing career so it would mean so much for me, that all the hard training since I started fencing pays off. Since I fence I inspired many people to do something with their life, so by qualifying for the Paralympics I could inspire even more people.

“If I train harder and harder and still improve, I am confident that I can continue being on the podium. It will be harder because other fencers now respect me as a strong opponent and watch me fence to find my weaknesses. But I can eliminate those weaknesses to stay on the podium.”

The 2019 IWAS Wheelchair Fencing World Championships in Cheongju will take place from 17-23 September.