Swindon fencer Edward Scott-Payne saved his best performance until the last weekend of this year’s sword fencing season to become England U15 Epee champion.

Taking place at the University of Hertfordshire Sports Village, this year’s England U15 Epee National Championships had a field of more than 70 top athletes all vying for the crown.

The category was split into pools of seven, with Scott-Payne ranked number one going into the competition.

The fencing was close, with no fencer wining all of their fights, giving Scott-Payne an overall ranking of sixth after the pool stage.

With such a high seeding, he had a bye for the first two direct elimination rounds, where losing competitors would be knocked out.

Scott-Payne’s last-32 fight was an easy 15-5 win and set him up for two very competitive last-16 and quarter-finals bouts against the 11th and third seeds respectively.

Both contests were close, with each fencer swapping hits, although Scott-Payne was able to pull ahead to win both 15-12.

Guaranteed a medal, Scott-Payne found the semi-final somewhat easier, drawing his opponent’s attack only to hit them as they began their final movement, progressing to the final with a 15-8 win.

Scott-Payne then had to wait 40 minutes for the final bout, ensuring he stayed warm and rehearsing his gameplan time and again.

His tactics were perfect, keeping away from his opponent until he was ready and then either hitting with a parry riposte or on his opponent’s prepared attack, with Scott-Payne emerging a well-deserved 15-6 winner and new England champion.

“I felt very confident going into the competition and knew there were some very tough fights in store,” said Scott-Payne.

“I have being working on varying my tactics and being unpredictable so opponents don’t know what to expect and it paid dividends.

“I am thrilled to be England Champion and looking forward to representing the country again next March when I fence in Poland.”

Swindon Fencing Club president Neil Bromley added: “We are all thoroughly proud of Ed and his achievement.

“I was fortunate to introduce Ed to fencing and he has never looked back. He is a top athlete and a great role model for our younger fencers in Swindon.

“I am looking forward to seeing him build on this achievement as the new season starts in the autumn.”