Christian Rascioni 2023-24 Fencing Staff
Assistant Coach, Sabre
Christian Rascioni enters his fifth season as Irish assistant sabre coach after being hired in October of 2019.
In his first season with the Irish, Rascioni help lead sophomore Kara Linder to her second consecutive ACC Individual Championship and she earned ACC Fencer of the Year for Women’s Sabre. Alessandro Contreras earned the ACC Championship on the men’s side and was named ACC Fencer of the Year for Men’s sabre following the season. Both Linder and Contreras qualified for the NCAA Championship along with fellow sabreists Jared Smith and Regina O’Brien.
A native of Trieste, Italy, Rascioni earned his “maestro di scherma” (three-weapon fencing master) diploma from the Accademia Nazionale di Scherma and the Italian Fencing Coach Association in 2005. Previously, he earned an Italian Olympic Committee Pedagogical diploma in 1999.
Rascioni was most recently the president and head coach of the Gemina Scherma fencing club in San Giorio di Nogaro, Italy. He joined Gemina as its sabre head coach in 2002 before becoming its president in 2009, and has also coached for the Italian national men’s sabre team since 2004. Additionally, he has served as trainer for fencers from Venezuela, Croatia and Japan and has held fencing coach education seminars in Italy, Hungary, Bolivia and Mexico.
Students of Rascioni have earned more than 50 medals in international competition since 2002, including at junior and cadet World Championships, junior World Cups, Pan-Am Championships, South American Games, European Championships and Italian Championships. Since 2002, more than 10 of Rascioni’s students have competed for the Italian National Sabre Team.
During his competitive career, Rascioni earned a silver medal at the Italian men’s sabre championships in 1999 and bronze medals in 1998 and 2000. He also earned silver medals with the Italian men’s sabre team in 2002 and 2006.
Rascioni earned his master’s degree in history, with a specialization in contemporary history, from Università degli Studi di Trieste in 2003.