Omar Elgeziry was named head coach of the fencing program in July of 2023. Elgeziry succeeded Alex Beguinet, who was at the helm of the Blue Devils for nearly four decades.

A former Olympian, Elgeziry has qualified 12 fencers for the NCAA Championships in his two years at the helm. He has led Duke to a pair of top-12 finishes at the NCAA event and produced five All-America selections, including four in foil. Elgeziry also guided Allen Marakov to a third-place finish in epee in 2023, the highest finish for a Blue Devil men's epee player since 2014.

The 2025 campaign had Elgeziry's squad place 12th at the NCAA Championships after sending four to the main event. Rachel Koo earned Second Team All-America accolades after placing eighth in foil. Dayaal Singh also earned an Honorable Mention All-America nod after taking 12th in foil.

Elgeziry led Duke's women to second at the ACC Championships while the men placed tied for third. Kunling Tong highlighted the Blue Devil achievements at the league meet with a silver in saber. Marakov earned a bronze in epee for his highest finish at the ACC event.

At the 2025 regional event, Elgeziry helped the Blue Devils to 10 top-10 finishes for a second consecutive year. Charlotte Koenig earned a silver in foil with Koo placing fourth. On the men's side Singh claimed third in foil with freshman Joseph Glasson taking sixth.

Elgeziry led Duke's women to a 26-5 record during the 2025 regular season and ACC Championships while the men went 19-10. Both the men's and women's squads topped No. 1 Harvard in February by matching 15-12 scores. Elgeziry had the Blue Devil women taking momentum into the ACC Championships with a 15-0 stretch, including a 5-0 performance at the Beguinet Classic, to cap the regular season. Duke's men went on a 9-1 stretch to close the regular season, falling just to Notre Dame at the Miller Invitational.

During his first year in Durham, Elgeziry's Blue Devils finished 10th at the NCAA Championships with 73 points. In addition to Marakov's bronze, women's foilists Christina Ferrari and Koenig brought back All-America accolades. Ferrari placed eighth with Koenig just behind in ninth. Women's saberist Tong was one spot shy of All-America honors by taking 13th. In total, seven Elgeziry took Blue Devils to the NCAA Championships in his first season.

During the 2023 ACC event, Elgeziry helped Duke's women place second, falling in a fence off to Notre Dame for the title, while the men finished third. Elgeziry was named the ACC Women's Coach of the Year for his efforts.

The Blue Devils excelled at regionals under Elgeziry with 10 top-10 performances. Koenig claimed gold in foil and Rachel Kowalsky took bronze in epee. Natalie Olsen (saber/5th), Marakov (epee/5th), Travers (saber/6th), Noah Nager (foil/7th), Ferrari (foil/8th), Tong (saver/9th), Hava Stone (saver/10th) and Sophia Shen (foil/10th) rounded out the top-10 finishes.

Elgeziry arrived in Durham after four seasons as the head coach at the Air Force Academy. He also served two seasons as the assistant coach at Cornell.

In 2022-23, he guided the Falcons to an 11th place finish at the NCAA Fencing Championships with 43 points, both being the top marks for a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) program. Its 11th-place finish was the second best at Air Force since 2003. Six Falcons qualified for the national stage, which tied for the second most in program history (most in a non-Covid year). The 2022-23 campaign featured freshman Jack Griffith, who captured the NCAA West Regional and MPSF titles in men's foil. Griffith also earned MPSF men's freshman of the year honors.

Air Force had a program-record 10 NCAA qualifiers in 2020-21, including two All-Americans. Elgeziry earned 2021 Western Fencing Conference Coach of the Year recognition for the second consecutive year and was a 2021 USFCA Fencing Head Coach of the Year finalist.

At Cornell, Elgeziry helped the Big Red to reach new heights. The 2018-19 team had two individuals finish in the top 10 of their respective weapon, while the team’s 14th-place finish was its highest in the NCAA era. Elgeziry helped freshman Megan Eno become just the fourth fencer in Big Red history to earn first-team All-Ivy honors when she placed third overall in the epee competition at the 2019 Ivy League Fencing Round-Robin. Eno went on to win silver at the Northeast Regional, and captured honorable mention All-America honors with a ninth-place finish at the NCAA tournament.

He spent one year as the national epee coach for USA Pentathlon, after serving as an assistant coach and administrator for the Egypt Modern Pentathlon Olympic team from 2014-17. Elgeziry went on to make history as the first Olympic coach to qualify for the same Olympic Games as an athlete, as he finished 23rd overall with 1,403 points.

A world-class athlete, Elgeziry has competed in and medaled in more than 50 modern pentathlon and fencing events, including a silver medal at the 2016 Pentathlon World Cup #2 in Rio De Janeiro and a fourth-place finish at the 2016 Pentathlon World Championships in Moscow.

As a fencer, Elgeziry is a two-time senior Egyptian champion in epee (2010, 2011). He also won a gold medal in epee at the Junior World Cup in Egypt in 2005, after a fifth-place finish the previous year.

A native of Cairo, Egypt, Elgeziry began coaching shortly after arriving in the United States, acting as a private fencing coach in Florida and founding the Sunshine Region Modern Pentathlon Club. Elgeziry obtained a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Ain Shams University in 2008. Elgeziry is married to Chiara Tranquilli, a foil fencer from Italy. Their journey began when they crossed paths at the World Cup in Rome, Italy. They had their first child, Lily, in 2024.

Name	Title	Email	Phone
Omar Elgeziry	Head Coach	omar.elgeziry@duke.edu
Ahmed Abdallah	Assistant Coach	ahmed.abdallah@duke.edu
Shaimaa Elgammal	Assistant Coach	shaimaa.elgammal@duke.edu	(919) 681-2583
Jacek Huchwajda	Assistant Coach	jacek.huchwajda@duke.edu	(919) 613-7521
Leslie Marx	Assistant Coach

2025-26 Fencing Coaching Staff

Coaching Staff

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