Race Imboden

Race Alick Reid Imboden (born April 17, 1993) is an American artist, filmmaker, and creative director, and a former left-handed foil fencer. He is a nine-time team Pan American champion, six-time individual Pan American champion, and a member of the gold medal-winning team at the 2019 World Fencing Championships. A three-time Olympian, Imboden is a two-time team Olympic bronze medalist. Following his competitive career, he transitioned into work across art, film, and fashion, developing projects in creative direction, design, and exhibition making.

Personal life Imboden was born in Tampa, Florida. His parents gave him his name after the Jonny Quest character Race Bannon. He moved to Atlanta at a young age. His first sports were inline skating and BMX; an inline skating accident left him with a crooked nose and a scar on his lip. He was playing with a toy sword in a park when a stranger suggested to his parents that he take up fencing. Shortly afterwards his family moved to Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York City. He attended the Bay Academy in Sheepshead Bay for middle school.

Imboden joined the Fencer's Club in Manhattan, where he first met Jed Dupree and Dan Kellner, both of whom were foil fencing Olympians at the 2004 Summer Olympics. They worked with him as a student, and Imboden made several connections. One lasting connection was that of the friendship to his long-time colleague Declan MacPherson, who Imboden notably gave an autograph to upon their first meeting. After graduating high school in spring 2011 he reconsidered his earlier signed intent to immediately attend Notre Dame, and took a year to focus on his training. He became a member of the Brooklyn Bridge Fencing Club, in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn, with Dan Kellner as his coach. He finally opted for St. John's University in New York, because it was closer to his family and coach.

Imboden's other passion is hip hop. He interned at independent label Fool's Gold in 2012 and is a DJ in his spare time. After Thibus tested positive for ostarine in a January 2024 doping test, the International Fencing Federation accepted her excuse that her saliva had been contaminated by kissing Imboden, a decision upheld in July 2025 by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on appeal from the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Career

Imboden (left) fences against Italy's Andrea Cassarà (right) in the men's foil team final of the 2013 World Fencing Championships 2013 at Syma Hall in Budapest, 12 August 2013.

Imboden joined the national cadet (U17) team in 2010 and capped the year with the Cadet National Championship title. A year later, he was an individual titlist at the Senior National Championship in Portland, Oregon, and team foil titlist at the 2011 and 2012 Pan American Fencing Championships. In the team event, No. 5 seeded USA prevailed over France, lost to Italy (who would win the gold medal), and a loss followed in the bronze medal match with Germany.

In 2013, Imboden won the gold medal at the 2013 Copa Villa La Habana, his first World Cup title, breaking a 14-year drought of US Foil World Cup titlists. He is now one of two US men's foil fencers to have won a World Cup competition. In June of the same year he won a silver medal in the Pan American fencing Championships in Cartagena after being defeated in the final by his teammate Gerek Meinhardt. At the 2013 World Fencing Championships in Budapest Imboden was defeated in the table of 16 by Ukraine's Rostyslav Hertsyk, who later earned a bronze medal. He took part in the team event for the United States, who lost the final to Italy and took the silver medal. Imboden finished 10th in the 2012–13 FIE world rankings.

Imboden began the 2013–14 season win a silver medal finish in the 2013 World Combat Games. He won his second USA Division-1 National Championship title in April 2014, defeating David Willette 15–6. He placed second in the SK Trophée in Seoul and third in the Prince Takamado World Cup. The World Championships in Kazan were a disappointment as Imboden was defeated in the table of 16 by teammate Gerek Meinhardt. In the team event, No.4 seed USA lost to eventual silver medallist China in the quarter-finals and finished fifth. Imboden finished the season world No.10 for the second time in a row.

In the 2014–15 season, Imboden made the quarter-finals in the San Francisco World Cup and proceeded to win gold at the Prince Takamodo World Cup in Tokyo after overcoming Russia's Dmitry Rigin in the final. He posted a third place in the Trofeo Inalpi in Turin, Italy. In January 2015 he achieved a double gold at the Challenge International de Paris: he became the first American to win the individual event after defeating Italy's Daniele Garozzo, then earned a second gold medal in the team event after Team USA prevailed over Italy. Imboden then took a bronze medal in the Havana Grand Prix. In April, he won the Master de Fleuret in Melun, prevailing over Ma Jianfei in the final. Two weeks later he earned the gold medal at the 2015 Pan American Championships in Santiago, his third individual Pan American title. The 2015 World Championships in Moscow proved a disappointment: Imboden was defeated in the table of 16 by Olympic champion Lei Sheng. In the team event, the United States lost to Italy in the quarter-finals and finished sixth after the placement rounds. Imboden did, however, ended the season World no.1, ten points ahead of newly crowned world champion Yuki Ota, thus becoming the first American male fencer to win the overall World Cup.

In the 2015–16 season, Imboden achieved another double-gold haul at the Paris World Cup, becoming the first fencer since Benjamin Kleibrink in 2006–2007 to win back-to-back editions. Three podiums out of three World Cup competitions sealed the United States' qualification to the team event of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, guaranteeing three American slots in the individual event. Despite a further bronze medal at the Havana Grand Prix and a no.4 world ranking, Imboden was overtaken in the US rankings and qualified to the Olympics only as an alternate for the team event.

Pan-Am Games protest At the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, Imboden and teammates Gerek Meinhardt and Nick Itkin won gold medals for the US men's foil team. At the medal ceremony, Imboden knelt on one knee on the medal podium as the United States national anthem played; Meinhardt and Itkin remained standing. United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee spokesperson Mark Jones criticized Imboden, as all athletes are to commit to refraining from political actions and demonstrations, stating "In this case, Race didn't adhere to the commitment he made to the organizing committee and the USOPC. We respect his rights to express his viewpoints, but we are disappointed that he chose not to honor his commitment."

On 21 August 2019, Imboden was placed on a twelve-month probation by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee for his protest at the Pan American Games.

Subsequent career Imboden again qualified as an alternate to represent the United States in fencing at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 where the US team won its second consecutive bronze medal in the team foil competition.

Imboden officially retired from fencing in 2023.

Creative career

Following his retirement from fencing, Imboden began working across art, film, fashion, and creative direction. He is the founder and director of Race Imboden Company, an experimental space in Paris that operates across fashion, objects, exhibitions, and events. The studio develops garments and objects from concept through production, while also producing exhibitions, environments, and live formats.

Race Imboden Company has presented work at The Broken Arm in Paris and developed a specialized garment project in association with Perrotin for a dance performance. In 2025, the studio produced a ten-artist group exhibition at Fondazione Sozzani Founded by Carla Sozzani.

Exhibition 01

In April 2025, Imboden produced Exhibition 01, a group exhibition presented by Race Imboden Company at Fondazione Sozzani in Paris. The exhibition was curated by Nogoflani Fofana and brought together artists working across disciplines including image, sound, sculpture, and mixed media.

Office of Operations

Imboden is co-founder of Office of Operations (O/O), a special projects studio working across film, image direction, scenography, and visual strategy. The studio develops projects for artists, musicians, institutions, and commercial clients. Through Office of Operations, Imboden has worked across creative direction and production, contributing to visual campaigns, films, and spatial projects. The studio has developed visual work with musicians including Ethel, including music video production. The studio has also developed projects with musicians including Banshee and Pip Millett. In addition to commissioned work, it produces editorial projects and publications.

Medal record

Olympic Games

World Championship

Grand Prix

World Cup

Pan American Championship