A CHRISTLETON High School sixth form student produced a starring performance at the European Cadet Championships in Croatia.
Stephanie Collister finished as the top-ranked girls foilist for the Great Britain team at the Porec event to confirm her selection for next week’s Cadet World Championships in Moscow.
Globetrotting Collister, who remains 20th in the European rankings, was also the second best finishing Brit across the weapon categories.
The championships brought together the top four ranked fencers from each of the competing European countries.
Collister, of Boughton, pitted her wits against opponents from Germany, Romania, Ukraine, Croatia, Hungary and Israel in the poule stages.
She started with two superb 5-0 victories before winning three of her next four fights.4
Ranked 15th going into the direct elimination rounds, Collister booked her place in the last 32 by beating one of her Great Britain team-mates before she went down fighting to an Italian fighter who went on to win the silver medal.
Her performance showed Collister is not far behind Europe’s best, meant she finished an excellent 20th overall and continued her season to remember.
The Wales senior international had qualified for her maiden European Cadet Championships after winning the British under 20s women’s foil title as well as bronze medals at the British Cadet Championships and Manchester International Cadet Tournament.
Collister was supported on her Croatian trip by her personal coach Jayne Hanlon.
Chester-born Hanlon, a former British senior international fencer, has formed a formidable partnership with Collister since linking up with the rising star five years ago.
