Colin Heathcock (December 20, 2005) is an American right-handed sabrefencer. He represented the United States at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Early life and education
Heathcock was born to Virgil Heathcock and Julie Yang in Beijing, China and raised in Palo Alto, California. He has an older brother, Antonio, who is also a fencer. By 13 years old, Heathcock was competing internationally representing Germany, where his father has dual citizenship.[1] In 2019, he moved to Orléans, France where sabre coach Christian Bauer was opening an academy.[2]
Heathcock represented Germany at the 2022 Junior World Championships and won a gold medal in the individual sabre event.[4] In 2022, he decided to switch his national team to the United States.[1]
In January 2024 he won gold at the Tunis Grand Prix. In March 2024 he won gold at the Padua Senior Men's Saber World, his second gold in the last three FIE senior tournaments.[9] At 18 years old, he became the youngest ever men's sabre fencer to win multiple senior level international competitions in a season.[10] In April 2024 he represented the United States at the 2024 Junior Fencing World Championships and won a gold medal in the team sabre event.[11]
In March 2024 he was named to team USA's roster to compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics.[12][13] During the men's sabre event, Heathcock was upset by Park Sang-won of Korea in the round of 32.[14]