On the weekend, I had the pleasure and privilege of once again representing UCL at The Diamond Cup, an exclusive annual match held at the historic Lansdowne Club.

Built in 1763 and established as a social club in 1935, The Lansdowne Club was one of the first in London to admit both men and women on equal terms. It made for a fitting venue for a truly special event.

The Diamond Cup is an annual fencing competition between a combined Oxford–Cambridge team and a combined London Universities team (UCL, King’s, Imperial, and LSE). This year, I was honoured to represent both UCL and the London team overall.

Across the day, six matches were contested, men’s and women’s foil, epee, and sabre, with men’s sabre (my discipline) closing the event. Up until that point, Oxbridge had taken every match…but the final result was still undecided.

As anchor for the London sabre team, I knew the responsibility of finishing the entire day rested on us. In a tight, hard-fought battle, my teammates and I managed to break the Oxbridge winning streak with a narrow but decisive victory.

Finishing the final match of the event, I felt the weight of representing not just UCL but all London universities, and the strength, resilience, and determination our students bring to sport and beyond.

I’m incredibly proud to say we won our match, and even prouder of my fellow London university teammates for the grit they showed throughout the day.