Arianna Balestrieri, a former Bermuda High School student, won the women’s foil event in fencing’s Junior British Championships at the University of Nottingham at the weekend.

The 17-year-old will now represent Britain in the next World Cup season.

This was her first appearance at the event as she moved to Millfield School, in Somerset, in September 2016 to train and follow her ambition of representing Britain.

However, a badly injured ankle in May seemed to have postponed that ambition. Balestrieri’s persistence in her rehab, along with the excellence of her coaches Glen Golding and Tristan Parris, and the physio team at Millfield ensured she was ready to go.

Ninth-seeded Balestrieri frustrated, outwitted and accelerated away from Yasmin Campbell 15-8 in the final.

She beat Ela Kucharska 15-8 in the last 32, Serena Patel 15-13 in the last 16, before edging past top seed Alice Campbell 15-14 in the quarter-finals and beating Amy Home 11-10 on sudden death in the semis.