GBR Selection Policies & Procedures

How is selection made?

Current Selection Policy: 2026‑27 GBR Selection Policy – Board Approved

Selection is based on athletes meeting qualification standards and BF rankings.

Further information:

Nominated Competitions and selection dates (Cadet, Junior, Senior) are available on the GBR Calendar. Please note that not all FIE Senior World Cups and Grand Prix events are automatically nominated due to security risk assessments.

National Championships Participation Requirement & Exemption Form

Athletes applying for discretionary selection must complete the relevant form. Full details are available at GBR Discretionary Selection.

Olympic & Paralympic nominations

For Olympic and Paralympic events (including the European Games and the Junior Olympics), BF is responsible for nomination only. Final selection decisions rest with the National Olympic or Paralympic Committee. Please refer to the relevant nomination policies:

Who makes the selection or nominations?

Selections or nominations are completed by Weapon Panels or Major Event Panels established under the GBR Selection Policy.

Panel members can be found here.

When is the selection done?

Unless a policy specifies otherwise, selection points are published on the GBR Calendar.

These dates begin the standard selection process, which includes panel reviews and the appeals window.

How do I appeal selection?

Information on the appeals process:

Selection Appeals

Where is selection announced?

Selection announcements for nominated competitions, including European and World Championships, are published on the BF website via Latest News and on the following pages:

Selected athletes will also receive an email via the BF membership platform. BF cannot accept responsibility for missed or unread emails, so athletes should check announcement pages regularly.

Please note: BF staff, selectors and weapon managers are unable to respond to individual queries regarding whether specific athletes will or have been selected.

How do I accept selection?

Selected athletes will receive a selection email with a link to their sport80 profile. Athletes must:

log in and accept selection
make any required payment by the deadline

By accepting, athletes agree to all GBR Policies.

Contact email addresses on the BF platform must be up to date and regularly checked. Failure to complete payment after clicking the acceptance link may result in the athlete’s place being offered to a reserve and an administration fee being applied.

Timescales may be short, sometimes as little as 48–96 hours from notification.

BF processes more than two thousand entries each season within a small administrative team. To ensure entries are processed correctly, deadlines must be followed exactly as published.

Selection policy consultation and publication process

The GBR Selection and BF Ranking Policies are updated annually and provided to the community for consultation and subsequent finalisation and approval by the Board.

Throughout the season, BF collates feedback about the policies and this is considered when next season’s policies are drafted.

The start of the annual publication process begins with a draft of proposed changes, shared to members for consultation via the BF website*
Consultation feedback is gathered to assist the team in considering the impact of the policy, for example, by uncovering unintended consequences of the proposed changes. Not all feedback will be actioned as the process is to ensure the team has gathered information that may have been missed, not to satisfy individual complaints or every viewpoint.
The consultation window is usually between 10-14 days, to give time for the fencing community to read and feedback on the proposed changes. The date for the end of consultation is given at the time of posting the draft. Late submissions may not be considered. Responses that refer to ongoing complaints, or that are more suited to a complaint procedure will not be considered as there is a separate process for this type of response.
Feedback is then considered and the policy is amended if any changes are required.
If there is a significant change to the draft policy it will go back to consultation and repeat the steps above.
The draft policy is reviewed and then approved by the BF Board.
The new policy is published on the BF website with a summary of any consultation input.

*Where BF is not the final approver, for example it is a BOA selection policy, these may not be required to go to consultation.

2020–2021

Final Tokyo Selection Para Fencing 2021

GBR Selection Policy v1.1 (23.11.21)

2019–2020

Links preserved as supplied:

GBR Senior Selection Policy 2019–20

Senior Selection Dates 2019–20 (Excel)

Senior Selection Dates 2019–20 (PDF)

GBR Junior Selection Policy 2019–20

Junior Selection QUICK GUIDE

Junior Calendar 2019–20

Nominated Team Events Process

GBR Cadet Selection Policy 2019–20

Cadet Selection QUICK GUIDE

Cadet Calendar 2019–20

2018–2019

All links preserved exactly:

GBR Senior Selection Policy 2018–19 (v2.0)

Previous version:

GBR Senior Selection Policy 2018–19 (v1.0)

Senior Selection Dates 2018–19

GBR Selection Policy for 2019 U23 European Championships

2018–19 Junior Selection Policy

Operational Policy Updates:

9.10.18 – Definitions updated to allow a BF Athlete Development Programme nominee to join the Junior Selection Team in an advisory capacity.
9.10.18 – Ranking coordinators can now be contacted directly using the details here. Any material issue affecting selection must still be copied to headoffice@britishfencing.com.
9.10.18 – Clarification of eligibility: born before 1 January 2002 for the 2018–19 season.
9.10.18 – See Latest News for squad size updates.

2018–19 Junior Calendar

2018–19 Cadet Selection Policy

2018–19 Cadet Calendar

2017–2018

GBR Senior Ranking Scheme 2017–18

GBR Senior Selection Policy 2017–18

GBR Selection Policy for 2018 U23 European Championships

Senior Selection Dates 2017–18

Senior Ranking Publication Dates 2017–18

2017–18 Policy Updates:

11.09.17 – Athletes must be 16 or older on the competition date to be eligible for Senior World Cups/Grand Prix.
27.03.18 – Updated definition of Weapon Selection Panel (WSP) to include advisory roles and conflict‑of‑interest rules.

GBR Junior Selection Policy 2017–18

GBR Cadet Ranking & Selection Scheme

Youth Olympic Games 2018 Qualification System

Click the links below to go to your GBR Zone:

Para Fencing | Under 14 | Cadet | Junior | U23 & Senior