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19
Oct
‘Beyond anything I could imagine’: North Rigton para fencer on winning GB’s first global silver medal
A North Rigton para fencer has expressed her amazement at winning a silver medal for Team GB at a world cup.
Emily Holder, 21, duelled her way to the podium in the Para Fencing World Cup 2025 in Indonesia in September.
Competing in the women’s team épée event, alongside four-time Paralympian and childhood hero Gemma Collis, the pair brought home GB’s first-ever global medal in the event.
Épée is one of the three forms of fencing – the other two being foil and sabre. Using a heavier blade, points can be scored by hitting any part of the body.
The Stray Ferret caught up with Holder this week to find out more about the athlete’s journey.
Born with spastic dystonic cerebral palsy, Holder has always had restricted use of the right side of her body. Her condition affects her motor skills in her right arm, leg and core.
Holder discovered fencing in 2013, after the London Paralympics, at a sports festival in Sheffield. She first tried fencing with plastic swords and instantly fell in love. From there, she joined Harrogate Fencing Club.
Emily Holder (middle) was nine when she was introduced to fencing.
Despite not being able to participate in many sports at school, the silver medallist had an active childhood. At nine, she was already swimming, fencing and horse riding.
Because she was swimming three times a week and fencing and horse riding once a week, she said she never felt like she was missing out on other sports.
Holder fenced and swam nationally for a time before focusing her efforts solely on fencing. She added that she almost got to an international level before shifting her focus to the blade.
She said:
Without Harrogate Swimming Club and Harrogate Fencing Club, I really wouldn’t have had much sport to do. There’s a lot of sports I can’t do; even a lot of wheelchair sports I can’t do, because you have to push your wheelchair with two arms. I can’t do that.
Fencing is a static wheelchair sport, so I don’t have to push the chair. I can fence without using two arms; it’s the one sport I can do without my two arms because my right isn’t really that helpful.
A tough start
Holder started fencing with Team GB in November 2021, when she was 17. Her first competition was tough:
Because it’s such a niche sport and there’s not that many wheelchair fencers, you don’t get the experience you need to be able to compete internationally unless you just go to those internationals.
Realistically, you do get battered in that first competition. You’re inexperienced, and the people who are competing internationally are very good. It is [mentally] tough, but you have to go in knowing that you’re going to lose.
Holder added that the mental aspect of fencing is really hard in those first few years at international level.
Tournaments are organised so that lower ranks face the highest seeded fencers in the world straight away.
The fencer said she had to face the world number three during a world championships in South Korea, which was the hardest match of her life. She lost 15-3.
But there has been plenty to celebrate for Holder.
In July last year, the fencer became national champion at a tournament in Sheffield. She also won gold in all three forms of fencing at the British Senior Championships in April.
Emily Holder with her gold medals.
World cup glory
But she says, by far, her recent world cup win means the most to her:
Not only is it my first international, but it’s the first women’s team event medal for GB globally. It means the world to me and I got to do it alongside someone who used to be my idol.
Since I was nine, Gemma [Collis] was, in my eyes, absolutely amazing. No way I get to fence with her. No way I get to get a medal alongside her. It was beyond anything I could imagine. We both kept saying to each other, ‘what on earth have we just done? How’ve we done that?’
Emily Holder (right) with Gemma Collis (left) and another GB teammate.
Holder praised Collis for her leadership abilities. The pair have fenced together since 2023 in team events, with her saying that Collis really helped guide her.
Another huge influence on Holder’s fencing journey has been her mum. While her coaches have not always been able to travel with her to tournaments, her mum has always been there.
Whether it’s picking her up from her wheelchair, strapping her into the chair, helping her put her mask on, or providing moral support, Holder’s mum, Helen, has always been there for her.
The fencer told us what it meant to have that motherly support:
Absolutely the world. I wouldn’t be doing the sport or doing anything I have done without her, my dad, and my family. Whether it be my boyfriend, my grandparents who look after the dog while we’re away, or my sister who lets her parents take her sister abroad for competitions! It means everything to me.
Emily Holder and her mum, Helen (left).
So, what’s next for Holder having achieved something so special?
The fencer said that she wants to qualify for as many events as possible in the run up to 2028, with a hope of qualifying for the LA Paralympics.
Although she admitted it will be difficult, due to the quality of compatriots such as Collis, she is hopeful that she can achieve it. If not LA, then Brisbane is the target, she said.
Holder had words of advice for those wanting to follow a similar path. She said:
Give it your all. If you find this what you enjoy and you want to be good at it, go and do it. You will be good at it. You can do whatever you want. You can put your mind to it. You can do it.
It doesn’t matter what people say, people will say you're going to be terrible at that. Don't listen to it. If you believe in yourself or your family believes in you, you can do it.
Emily Holder’s journey is a powerful reminder that limitations don’t define potential — resilience does.
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