Young Fife fencer hopes to use BUCS Nationals win as springboard.

Fife fencer Kate Daykin is hoping her fencing triumph at the BUCS Nationals will act as the perfect springboard for the rest of the season.

She was the top seed in the competition in Sheffield and overcame Laura Gladdish 15-5 in the final of the sabre.

The Heriot-Watt University student is eyeing a place in the Commonwealth Fencing Championships in November and hopes victory at BUCS Nationals will be the start of things to come.

The 21-year-old said: “It’s great to have won, it was a long day competing but it’s always great to come out on top.

“Taking part is good but winning is the best feeling. I didn’t have too many expectations coming into the event because it’s my first BUCS so I wasn’t sure who would be here. I wanted to have a bit of fun and it’s great come out as the winner.

“I’m really hoping to be fencing in the Commonwealth Fencing Championships in Canberra. That’s my primary aim for the year.”

This year saw BUCS Nationals return for its sixth year, bringing together individual BUCS Championship events which take place across Sheffield.

More than 500 officials and volunteers made the sport happen from February 16-18, with this the largest annual multi-sport event in the UK.

Daykin looked set to crash out in the semi-finals against Libby Jones, but fought back to win 15-14 before gliding past Gladdish.

And having overcome the rest of the field, the student believes the event was good preparation for the rest of the season.

She said: “BUCS is important because it’s good preparation for me. In Scotland, there’s not a lot people to compete against, especially in sabre.

“There’s people here I’ve never seen before or competed against before so you get to learn about different styles. It has helped prepare me for some international tournaments coming up.

“The semi-final was quite a tight one. I’ve fenced her before and it could’ve gone either way but thankfully I managed to get the hit. It was one of those where you do it automatically and I don’t remember how I did it.”