Women's Fencing
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- hhristov@princeton.edu
- Phone:
- 258-9304
Hristo Hristov completed his 10th season as an assistant fencing coach at Princeton in 2015-16, helping the teams earn a combined nine Ivy League titles, 10 straight top-10 NCAA team finishes, six top-four NCAA finishes, and the 2013 NCAA title.
Hristov has spent more than 25 years in coaching, beginning in his native Bulgaria as the coach of the Bulgarian junior national team from 1980-87. He ascended to coach the full national squad from 1987-91 before serving as an assistant coach for the team for 10 years.
During his 10 seasons at Princeton, the Tiger saberists have earned 32 NCAA finals bids and claimed All-Ivy League honors 21 times. Hristov coached Princeton's second NCAA individual champion and first since 2000 when Eliza Stone '13 won the NCAA title in 2013 while becoming Princeton's first four-time All-America in women's saber. Stone's sister Gracie Stone became Princeton's second four-time All-America honoree in saber in 2016, and Princeton sabers have won All-America honors 19 times during Hristov's time with the program.
Since 2001, Hristov has coached fencers in meets all over the United States, from Junior Olympic competitions to Summer Nationals and North American Cup meets.
Hristov counts his son, Kristian, as one of his most accomplished students. The younger Hristov was a three-time Bulgarian cadet sabre champion from 1998-2000, winning the Bulgarian Cup in 1999 and 2000. He represented his country at the Junior World Championships from 1999-2001 and at the Junior Olympics in 1998.
Hristov’s senior students saw success on the international level in the late 1980s, claiming individual medals at World Championships and World Cups throughout Europe before beginning the 1990s with a fifth-place finisher at the World Championships in Denver, Colo.
As a junior coach, Hristov’s students claimed gold medals at the Bulgarian national junior meet every year from 1981-87. Meanwhile, he guided his charges to medal performances at the 1985 Junior World Cup in Bonn, Germany, and a seventh-place finish at the Junior World Championships in Dormangen, Germany.
Hristov was a part of the Bulgarian national team from 1969-80, winning a national sabre title in 1976 and 1978. He also won a Balkan sabre title in 1976 and his team won that weapon five times in the 1970s.
Outside of coaching, Hristov has served as an international referee with an “A” rating in the sabre and a “B” rating in the foil and the epée since 1992. He has judged at five World Championships, 30 World Cups and at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
Hristov is an alumnus of the National Academy of Sport of Bulgaria, completing his training in 1984. He can speak three languages: Bulgarian, Russian and English. Hristov is also a certified jeweler.
