Isabella fights her way to British Fencing Title

Isabella Howser won the British Fencing under 14 girls title at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield over the bank holiday.

This follows on from winning silver at the British Tetrathlon Championships in Bath on April 2 and winning silver at the European under 14 circuit event in Osijek (Croatia) on 22 April, which took her to 7th on the European rankings.

Isabella Howser, who fences at the Oundle, Peterborough & Stamford Epee Club, which trains at The Peterborough School and Oundle School, has had an amazing month.

As a modern pentathlete, Izzy competes trains for swimming, show jumping, fencing, running and pistol shooting and competes regularly at the sports preparing for major championships in the UK and abroad.

At the start of April, Izzy competed in the British Tetrathlon Championships (swim, fence, shoot and run) and won silver in the under 15 age-groups, winning the fence discipline, gaining a personal best in the 100m freestyle swim and winning a sprint finish to take silver.

At the end of April, Izzy competed at the European under 14 circuit event in Osijek (Croatia) taking silver, beating the European ranked number one, Magdalena Cika, from Serbia - 15-4, to move to seventh on the under 14 European rankings.

In the linked cadet (under 17) event with 63 entrants, Isabella continued her great form, beating Michaela Stefanova, who came eighth at the recent World Cadet Championships 15-6 in the semi final to again take silver.

On bank holiday Monday, she competed in the under 14 British championships, hoping to better her run of silvers in recent weeks.

After an unbeaten first round, which seeded her first for the direct elimination rounds, Izzy had a bye through the last 64, won matches 15-5, 15-10, 15-4 and 15-7 to make the final.

Against South East region's Eilidh Paterson in the final, Izzy pulled out slight lead before Eilidh pulled to scores back to even at 10-10, but Izzy then pulled away to win her first British Fencing title with a 15-12 score line.

Upcoming events include the European circuit under 14 event in Sofia (Bulgaria), the England Youth Championships and she is hoping to be selected for this year's World Laser Run Championships in August.