University of Notre Dame Women's Fencing

Guiorgie “Gia” Kvaratskhelia (GEE-uh KVA-ra-SKELL-ee-uh) became the seventh head coach in Notre Dame fencing history in 2014, succeeding Janusz Bednarski after having spent the previous three years as associate head coach and five as an assistant. Kvaratskhelia is a foil specialist, and has already cemented his legacy as one of the nation’s top collegiate coaches after leading the Irish to five national championships in 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023 and most recently 2025. He has earned National Coach of the Year honors by the United States Fencing Coaching Association in 2018 and both men’s and women’s National Coach of the Year from the organization in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025. Since joining the Irish staff in 2007, Kvaratskhelia has overseen a thriving foil program. Irish foilists have qualified the maximum of four foilists each year for NCAA championship play. Since 2008, seven foilists have achieved four-time All-America status with Kvaratskhelia at the helm. Irish foilists have captured eight NCAA individual championships since 2010, including a four-time winner in Lee Kiefer (2013-’14-’15) and two-time winners in Gerek Meinhardt (2010, 2014) and Nick Itkin (2018, 2019). Ariel DeSmet also captured a men’s foil championship as a freshman in 2011. In six of his first seven seasons at the helm of the Irish, Kvaratskhelia steered his program to ACC titles on both men’s and women’s sides, while both teams placed second in the conference in 2018. The Irish have claimed 38 of

Christian Rascioni enters his fifth season as Irish assistant sabre coach after being hired in October of 2019. In his first season with the Irish, Rascioni help lead sophomore Kara Linder to her second consecutive ACC Individual Championship and she earned ACC Fencer of the Year for Women’s Sabre. Alessandro Contreras earned the ACC Championship on the men’s side and was named ACC Fencer of the Year for Men’s sabre following the season. Both Linder and Contreras qualified for the NCAA Championship along with fellow sabreists Jared Smith and Regina O’Brien. A native of Trieste, Italy, Rascioni earned his “maestro di scherma” (three-weapon fencing master) diploma from the Accademia Nazionale di Scherma and the Italian Fencing Coach Association in 2005. Previously, he earned an Italian Olympic Committee Pedagogical diploma in 1999. Rascioni was most recently the president and head coach of the Gemina Scherma fencing club in San Giorio di Nogaro, Italy. He joined Gemina as its sabre head coach in 2002 before becoming its president in 2009, and has also coached for the Italian national men’s sabre team since 2004. Additionally, he has served as trainer for fencers from Venezuela, Croatia and Japan and has held fencing coach education seminars in Italy, Hungary, Bolivia and Mexico. Students of Rascioni have earned more than 50 medals in international competition since 2002, including at junior and cadet World Championships, junior World Cups, Pan-Am Championships, South American G