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Soren Thompson began fencing in a UCSD recreational class at age 7. At
13, his mother, Sheila Thompson, started taking him to Los Angeles for
more competitive training. The change quickly paid off as he started
moving up the national age group ranks. He made his first World
Championship Team in the cadet division at age 16 in 1998. From
1999-2001 Soren was the top ranked Junior men's epee fencer in the US
while winning four medals in Junior World Cups and becoming the 1999 US Junior Olympic and 2000 US Junior National Champion.
In 1999 Soren started his collegiate fencing career by representing Princeton University at the World University Games. He went on to become the 2001 NCAA Champion, 2002 NCAA Silver medalist, and 2005 NCAA Bronze medalist in individual men's epee.
Soren has made many sacrifices for the sport of fencing, including
deferring his college enrollment by one year and taking the 2003-2004
school year off in order to prepare for the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games.
Although he did not qualify for the Sydney Olympics, the training and
competition experience played a significant role in preparing him for
his eventual success at the international level. His 8th place finish in the
World Championships in 2003 (a US record for men's epee) helped cement
his position on the 2004 Olympic Team roster. In Athens, Soren
finished 7th (the best US Olympic finish in men's epee since 1956). On his way to the final 8, he shocked the world by eliminating the top-ranked
fencer in the world and favorite to win the gold medal, Alfredo Rota of
Italy (see Soren’s best moment essay for a reprisal of this event in his own words). Soren's current goal is to win a medal in the 2008 Olympics.
Soren is proud to have balanced his athletic pursuits with a successful
academic career at Princeton University, where he earned Academic
All-Ivy honors in 2005. His current plans include starting a business
career while continuing to compete and train full-time. He will likely
soon move to Kiev, Ukraine to take advantage of the emerging markets in
Eastern Europe and the high caliber of Ukrainian fencing.
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