Leonid Kotov is a junior majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Economics and is an essential member of the Hopkins Men’s Fencing team. His weapon of choice is sabre. In his junior year of high school, Kotov earned a gold medal in the 2022 USA Summer Nationals. Upon his arrival to the collegiate fencing scene, Kotov was awarded the 2023-24 US Fencing Coaches Association National DIII Sabre Newcomer of the Year. He followed this with being named to the USFCA Mid-Atlantic/South All-Region in 2025.
In an interview with The News-Letter, Kotov discussed his fencing career and his love for the sport in addition to his experience studying engineering. Prior to fencing at the University, Kotov was part of the Salt City Swords Fencing Club in Salt Lake City and the Phoenix Fencing Academy in Arizona. Kotov originally swam competitively, and stumbled upon fencing through his friend.
“I came into fencing by accident. I used to swim for a long time and got bored of that — it was a little too repetitive and too cold for me. [I] had a friend who did fencing and just tried it out one day with him... It was really cool, and I've stuck with it since then. [I’ve been fencing] nearing 10 years now,” Kotov said.
Kotov highlighted the mental aspect of fencing as being continuously thrilling even after years of competing; during every bout, he has to adapt and strategize in new situations with a new opponent, engaging in mental games and trying different tactics to score points. In a nod to his major, Kotov compared the overall process to the concept of building.
“Every time you step up to the strip, it's a novel experience. You have to adapt to it. I think that's one of the things that makes [the sport] really cool,” he said. “However long you've been doing it for, it never really gets boring, it’s something new every time, you really have to think about it. Even once you've really mastered the physical aspects of it, there's so much more to it,” Kotov explained. “As you participate more and more, you understand more of the mental games, the tactical side... [you] see how different actions play together.”
In order to train on the mental aspect of the sport, which Kotov admitted to be more difficult in some ways than the physical aspect, he studies videos of higher level fencing. One example includes observing bouts at the Olympics. Another method of improvement Kotov credited was through participating in many tournaments.
“Even before Hopkins tournaments, [I went to tournaments] all the time: national events and did a couple of even international events. It's scary at first because these are big events, there’s a lot of people, it’s a lot of pressure. But after a while, you get used to that, you learn to think under pressure.”
After fencing individually for years, Kotov welcomed the opportunity to attend team events with the Men’s Fencing team. He spoke about enjoying the collegiate structure of shorter matches where he faced more opponents and the company and cheers of his teammates.
Outside of the fencing team, Kotov is the treasurer and founding member of Blue Jay Flight Club, a club for aviation enthusiasts. His motivation for forming the club was to create a community for people interested in the field of commercial aviation and the airline industry.
Kotov also discussed his experience studying mechanical engineering, a major that he described to be extremely structured but that still provides flexibility to students. He expressed his excitement for Senior Design, the major’s capstone project that functions similarly to an apprenticeship by getting hands-on experience in the industry.
“It’s a really exciting opportunity to put everything that you've learned over the three years to apply it to a real world project, working with a corporate, company sponsor or government sponsor,” Kotov said.
After graduation, he plans to pursue his interest in the commercial aviation and airline industry while he continues fencing.
“Fencing is really a lifelong sport,” Kotov said. “I do hope to keep fencing in some form or another past Hopkins.”
