Laurence Cassøe Halsted (born 22 May 1984) is a British

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ma ...

fencer, silver medallist in the 2008 European Championships and author of Becoming A True Athlete: A Practical Philosophy For Flourishing Through Sport.

Career

Halsted is the son of

Nick Halsted Nicholas Halsted (14 October 1942 – 22 September 2007) was a British international fencing, fencer. Halsted was captain of the Oxford University fencing team in 1964. He competed in three events at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

, who fenced for Great Britain in the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

, and

Clare Henley-Halsted Clare Henley married name Clare Halsted (born 18 August 1948) is a retired British international fencer. Fencing career She competed in the women's individual and team foil events at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics. She represented England ...

, who competed in foil in the

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

and

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

. He took up fencing himself at the Finchley Foil club and soon showed promise, winning the 2001 Junior European Championships in Keszthely. He helped Great Britain to conquer a bronze medal in the 2002 competition. After he graduated in social psychology at the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

, he joined the Lansdowne Club in London. He made his breakthrough at the 2008 European Championships in Kiev: he saw off 2008 World silver medallist

Andrea Baldini Andrea Baldini (born 19 December 1985) is an Italian Foil (fencing), foil fencing, fencer, several time European and World champion and team Olympic champion in 2012. He is the only foil fencer in history to have obtained four golds (European and ...

in the quarter-finals, then Ukraine's Andriy Pohrebnyak to reach the final. He lost to Italy's

Andrea Cassarà Andrea Cassarà (born 3 January 1984) is an Italian left-handed foil fencer, two-time individual European champion, 2011 individual world champion, and three-time Olympics medalist. Cassarà won a bronze medal in the individual men's foil even ...

and came away with a silver medal. The following year he was stopped in the semifinals by fellow countryman

Richard Kruse Richard Kruse (born 30 July 1983) is a former British right-handed foil fencer and four-time Olympian. In 2015, he was part of the Great Britain team that shocked Olympic champions Italy to win the first European Games gold in team foil, the fi ...

and took a bronze medal. Also in 2009, he won the foil title at the

British Fencing Championships The British Fencing Championships are held annually to determine the British champion. The Championships are currently held at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield. The championships were not held during World War I, World War II and in 202 ...

. He finished the 2010–11 season no.16 in world rankings, a career best as of 2015. At the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

he competed in the team foil event, where Great Britain team beat Egypt in the first round, but lost to Italy in the quarter-final. After taking a break from competitive fencing for 2 years, Laurence returned to the British team to help them qualify for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. He finished 22nd in the individual event, losing to China's Haiwei Chen, and 6th in the team event, losing 45–43 in the quarter-finals to eventual winners, Russia. Now located in Copenhagen, Denmark, Laurence Cassøe Halsted has since 1 January 2017 been Performance Director for the Danish Fencing Federation. On 26 August 2021, he published his first book called Becoming A True Athlete: A Practical Philosophy For Flourishing Through Sport. His is known by his teammates as "The Kingslayer" due to his resemblance to HBO actor

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Nikolaj William Coster-Waldau (; born 27 July 1970) is a Danish actor and producer. He graduated from the Danish National School of Performing Arts in Copenhagen in 1993, and had his breakthrough role in Denmark with the film '' Nightwatch'' (19 ...

References

External links

Profile
at the European Fencing Confederation {{DEFAULTSORT:Halsted, Laurence British male foil fencers 1984 births Living people Olympic fencers for Great Britain Fencers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Universiade medalists in fencing Universiade bronze medalists for Great Britain Medalists at the 2007 Summer Universiade