Italians and Russians shade individual fencing honours in Baku

Not surprisingly, Italy had a very strong showing in the tables of 32 and 16, continuing with three fencers in the quarter-finals. Russia also did well, as did France and Great Britain, and in spite of contenders from Croatia, Ukraine, Israel, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Greece, and Turkey, the semi-finals featured a nearly predictable line-up from Italy, France, and Russia.

Italy’s Francesco Ingargiola and Alessio Foconi had to face each other, while France’s up-and-coming foil champion Tony Helissey faced Russian Timur Arslanov – all four very competent, technical, and strong young swordsmen.

Foconi and Arslanov won their respective semi-finals to progress to the final, where Foconi ultimately overtook Arslanov to win another gold for Italy. The result was quite significant especially considering the Italian lineup was much younger than their top-level senior fencers, who are preparing for the senior world championships coming up in Moscow.

The women’s sabre competition produced a major upset with world and Olympic champion Olga Kharlan failing to make it out of pools and into the 32, providing a wide pathway for eager young sabrists to challenge for the gold.

A second surprise of the day came when Azerbaijani twin sisters Sevinj and Sevil Bunyatova made the medal rounds before a thundering local audience. A number of strong but relatively young women fencers from across Europe attempted to work their way to the top, but ultimately it was France’s Margaux Rifkiss and Poland’s Angelika Wator who faced the Baku twins.

In the final, Wator literally leaped her way to the gold medal, with a dazzling display of athleticism and on-piste energy that finally proved too much for Sevil Bunyatova in a cliff-hanging 14-14 final.

The individual men’s epee and women’s foil equally produced a spectacular show of amazingly talented athletes.

With fencers from all over Europe, from Israel to Norway, and Russia to Czech Republic, both weapons had very diverse and energetic competitors eager to make the medal rounds.

In men’s epee, a strong showing in the quarter-finals by a number of high-level fencers such as the Netherlands’ Verwijlen, Denmark’s Von der Osten, and Italy’s Fichera were ultimately out-ranked by two fencers from France, Daniel Jerent and Ivan Trevejo, and Russia’s Sergey Khodos along with London 2012 silver medalist Bartosz Piasecki from Norway.

The final was entertaining and technical, with Khodos unable to overcome the veteran point control and bladework wielded by Trevejo, who took the gold.

The Baku audience was delighted with the very active and nearly gymnastic styles of women’s foil, with as much precision and well-timed footwork as there were stunning attacks by the Italians and Russians.

While the field was also very diverse, with competitors from Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Romania, Russia, Hungary, France, and Israel making the top 16, in the end it was a match between Russia and Italy in both semi-finals and the gold match.

Looking very young and fit, both the semis as well as the finals were a visually pleasing mix of style, grace, and motion mixed with skill and intentional actions.

Italy’s Alice Volpi went home with the gold medal after defeating Russian Yana Alborova; Volpi’s tactical strength, combined with strategic coaching, turned the day into a success story for Italy.