K. Hurley is an American épée fencer who was born on April 4, 1988. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she took home the bronze medal in the women’s team épée competition.
She excelled at the University of Notre Dame and was an All-American four times. She will compete for the United States in the sport of fencing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in 2021.
Since Kelley was 17 years old, she and her younger sister Courtney have competed on World Teams under the guidance of their father, Bob Hurley.
The only American woman’s épée fencer to do so in 2008 was Kelley, who qualified for her first Olympic team. K. Hurley qualified as a replacement athlete for her second team in 2012.
K. Hurley Earns First-Round Fencing Victory at Olympics
Tokyo, Japan – On the first day of Olympic competition, Saturday morning (late Friday CST).
K. Hurley broke the family’s string of bad luck by winning her first-round match in women’s epee fencing by defeating Erika Kirpu of Estonia, 15-14 in overtime.
K. Hurley, her younger sister, lost her opening match to Chinese player Zhu Mingye, 15-8, in a game that was stopped due to a tie in the third of three, three-minute quarters.
K. Hurley and Eli Dershwitz Earn Top-16 Results in Tokyo
Eli Dershwitz (Sherborn, Mass. / Zeta Fencing Academy / Harvard) and K. Hurley (San Antonio, Texas / New York Athletic Club / Notre Dame), two colleagues competing in the Rio Olympics, both finished in the top 16 on Saturday.
K. Hurley, who won a bronze medal in the team competition at the 2012 Olympics, placed 12th overall in Tokyo, which was her best individual performance there.
K. Hurley, who was seeded No. 16 going into the competition, received a bye into the round of 32 and was matched up against three-time Senior World medalist Erika Kirpu (EST).
Although the matchup would be difficult, Hurley was relieved to avoid playing her Rio teammate and close friend Kat Holmes.
(Washington, D.C. / New York Athletic Club / Princeton) in the opening round.
K. Hurley had a 4-3 lead after the first quarter, but Kirpu scored on his first two shots to grab a 5-4 lead and go on to win the game 8-7.
K. Hurley tied the score at 12 with a pair of singles late in the third after Kirpu had taken a 12-10 lead. Kirpu seized the lead at 14-13 with a double.
But K. Hurley intercepted the single she would need to tie the game and force sudden death overtime.
Conclusion
K. Hurley was a member of the first American women’s epée team to ever win an Olympic medal as they took home bronze in the team competition.
In the individual épée, K. Hurley entered the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio rated 18th in the world.
