Hello, my name is Emma Mitzova and I’m a 17 year old competitive fencer/student from NW London, aiming to compete at the U20 European and World fencing Championships in 2026. (in Tbilisi and Rio respectively)

I train intensively alongside my education; I'm studying maths, further maths & computing for my A-levels at college. I started fencing 4 years ago at my local club (Salle Paul) for fun and I was selected to start competing internationally in my first season. Over time, that passion has turned into commitment, discipline and results.

It's my first season in the U20 category, having moved up from U17 at the end of last season, where I finished as #1 in the UK and received the Matthew Dickinson Memorial Trophy.

Most of the season has concluded and all the competitions so far have been self-funded.

My results have shown good progress:

9th place at the Oslo Cup EFC U23 cup

57th out of 238 at the U20 Burgos World Cup

25th at the Geneva FIE Senior Satellite

+ Multiple domestic podium finishes

At the time of writing, I'm currently ranked 1st in the U20 national rankings.

These results have earned me qualification for the European Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia and World Championships in Rio, Brazil.

Last year, I also qualified for the U17 European & World Championships but unfortunately wasn't able to attend the Word Championships in China. While GCSEs played a big part, the main barrier was finances.

I am very grateful to everyone that helped fund my previous season. All the money donated helped towards the costs of the 6 qualification tournaments and without the donations, I wouldn't have made it that far and go to Euros.

Missing out on that opportunity was tough, but it motivated me to work harder and earn my place at the next major championships.

This season, I have been more selective with the qualification tournaments and made the decision to skip qualifying competitions in Lausanne and Cairo to save money for the Euros & Worlds.

I am also a qualified referee and any weekend I’m not competing or studying, I’ll be refereeing to earn money for the upcoming competitions.

All the donations will go towards my final qualification tournament in Italy in January and then other further travel to Euros & Worlds.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story and will be very grateful for any help I can get!