NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Marat Israelian, the interim head coach of Yale men's and women's fencing, announced that Sean McClain and Archil Lortkipanidze have joined the program as assistant coaches. Both bring a wealth of experience.
 
McClain was a member of the U.S. National Team, an individual NCAA champion, a silver medalist at the Pan American Championships and one of only three U.S. fencers to win a national championship title in foil and epee.
 
McClain has been coaching since 2003 and has consistently produced top-level national athletes and medalists at the Junior World Championships in both men's and women's foil.
 
Most recently, he has served as the foil coach at the Fencers Club in New York. His accomplishments include mentoring 2019 World Cadet and Junior Women's Foil individual champion Lauren Scuggs. In addition, he coached Team USA's women's foil squad to the 2018 World Junior Championship.
 
Prior to serving at the Fencers Club, he ran Empire United's decorated foil program.
 
McClain was the 1995 NCAA men's foil champion as an undergraduate at Stanford. In addition, he won a silver medal at the 1995 Pan-Am Games.
 
Lortkipanidze, who has 25 years as a senior saber coach, mentored five members of the U.S. National team for cadets, juniors and veterans and countless fencers who have won medals at Cadet and Junior World Championships and Cadet Junior and World Cups.
 
Most recently, he served as the saber coach at the Fencers Club in New York. He also has worked for the Tim Morehouse Fencing Club and was the coach of the Georgian National Team.
 
As a fencer, Lortkipanidze was a member of the 1996 Georgian Olympic Fencing Team. He was a five-time Georgian national champion and Soviet Union Cup and World Cup finalist.
 
He is a 1992 graduate of Tbilisi State University with a BA in economics.