Laurence Halsted
Laurence Halsted is a British foil fencer, silver medallist in the 2008 European Championships.Career
Halsted is the son of Nick Halsted, who fenced for Great Britain in the 1968 Summer Olympics, and Clare Henley-Halsted, who competed in foil in the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics. 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, 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 in the quarter-finals, then Ukraine's Andriy Pogrebnyak to reach the final. He lost to Italy's Andrea Cassarà and came away with a silver medal. The following year he was stopped in the semifinals by fellow countryman Richard Kruse and took a bronze medal. He finished the 2010–11 season no.16 in world rankings, a career best as of 2015.
At the 2012 Summer Olympics 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.
Now located in Denmark, Laurence Halsted has since 1 January 2017 been Performance Director for the Danish Fencing Federation.
His is known by his teammates as "The Kingslayer" due to his resemblance to HBO actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
