We are delighted to announce Nick Itkin as the Grand Marshal for our 62nd annual Marina del Rey Holiday Boat Parade in 2024. We are truly honored to have him in this year’s parade themed “A Margaritaville Holiday”.
Nick Itkin (born October 9, 1999) is an American foil fencer. He is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist, two-time World Championship
individual medalist, 2023 Pan American Games team gold medalist, 2024 Pan American Games team gold medalist, and two-time NCAA individual champion.
He earned the foil individual silver medal at the 2023 World Fencing Championships, to become the first U.S. man, and third U.S. fencer overall, to win individual medals at back-to-back World Fencing Championships. Itkin competed in his second Olympic Games representing the United States at the 2024 Paris Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the individual foil competition.
FENCING CAREER
2015–19: Junior World Champion
Itkin trains under his father at Los Angeles International Fencing Center, which his father founded in 2003. In 2015, he was a Cadet Junior Olympics bronze medalist, and in 2016 he was a Cadet Pan American Championships gold medalist. In 2017 he was a Junior Pan American Championships silver medalist.
At the 2018 Junior World Fencing Championships in Verona, Italy, Itkin won the gold medal in foil. He defeated future world champion Tommaso Marini of Italy in the final. He also won a team bronze medal at the championships. When he then also won consecutive NCAA fencing championships in foil, in 2018 and 2019 as he fenced for the University of Notre Dame where he studied political science, he decided to pursue fencing at the senior level. In 2018 he became the first American fencer to win gold medals at all three of the NCAA Fencing Championships, the US National Fencing championships, and the Junior World Fencing Championship in the same year. In 2019 he also won a team gold medal at the 2019 Pan American Fencing Championships in Toronto, Canada.
2020–23: First Olympics team medal and back-to-back World Championship medals
Itkin won the gold medal at a 2020 World Cup in Paris, becoming the youngest top-10 foil fencer in the world. Among other victories, in the competition he defeated the reigning world champion and world No. 3 Enzo Lefort of France, and the reigning Olympic champion Daniele Garozzo of Italy.
In 2021, Itkin won the U.S. National Championship in foil, in Philadelphia.
At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, at 21 years of age, Itkin won a bronze medal with Team USA in the men’s team foil competition. He came in 12th in the individual men’s foil competition at the Olympics. At the 2022 Pan American Fencing Championships in Asunción, Paraguay, he won a team gold medal, and an individual bronze medal.
Itkin won an individual bronze medal in men’s foil at the 2022 World Fencing Championships in Cairo, Egypt. In the competition, he defeated world No. 6 Takahiro Shikine of Japan and former world champion and world No. 3 Alessio Foconi of Italy, before losing to Enzo Lefort of France by a score of 15–14 in the semifinals. Lefort won the final to become a two-time reigning world champion.
In 2023, Itkin won the U.S. National Championship in foil for the fifth time, having won five of the six national championships contested between 2017 and 2023. With the 2023 championship, Itkin moved into fourth place on the all-time list of men’s foil fencers with the most U.S. national indoor titles.
Despite not winning an individual medal at any of the Grand Prix or World Cup events during the 2023 season, Itkin improved on his 2022 World Championships performance by winning the silver medal in Individual Men’s Foil at the 2023 World Fencing Championships. In a 2024 interview, Itkin discussed his tendency to perform better under pressure: “I just love that atmosphere, where the crowd is yelling and everyone’s cheering, because when it’s not like that, I have to kind of yell and force myself to get that kind of energy and atmosphere coming, but when it’s already there naturally it’s just so much easier for me.” This medal was Itkin’s third Senior Worlds medal in the past two years: individual bronze and team silver in 2022 and now individual silver in 2023. He became the first U.S. man, and third U.S. fencer overall, to win individual medals at back-to-back World Fencing Championships
OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE
- 2-time Olympian; 2-time Olympic medalist (2 bronze)
- Olympic Games Paris 2024, bronze (Individual Foil – Men), 4th (Team Foil – Men)
- Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, bronze (Team Foil – Men), 12th (Individual Foil – Men)
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS EXPERIENCE
- Most recent: 2023 – silver (Individual Foil – Men), 4th (Team Foil – Men)
- Years of participation: Individual Foil – Men 2016, 2019, 2022, 2023; Team Foil – Men 2022, 2023
- Medals: 3 (2 silver, 1 bronze)
- Silver – 2023 (Individual Foil – Men); 2022 (Team Foil – Men)
- Bronze – 2022 (Individual Foil – Men)
References
– Instagram
– Wikipedia
– TeamUSA.com