Russian duo take sabre titles at World Fencing Championships

Sofya Velikaya won the women's individual sabre for the second time in her career, this having won her title back in Catania 2011.

Velikaya produced a fine display of fencing to edge out her French rival Cécilia Berder by par 15 touches to 12.

Victory for Velikaya also comes less than a month since she was crowned European champion in Montreux, Switzerland, and with her now being the reigning European and world champion in the individual sabre, she also joins Ukraine’s Olga Kharlan, USA’s Mariel Zagunis, Azerbaijan’s Elena Jemayeva and France’s Anne Lise Touya as a two-time winner of the world championship individual sabre.

However there was no fairy tale ending for Kharlan who despite being hotly tipped to take the title, she failed to qualify from the quarter finals. China’s Chen Shen and USA’s Anna Marton took the bronze medals.

No female has won the sabre event at the World Championships three times, although Velikaya has now won a total of four medals, with only Zagunis and Kharlan grabbing more medals (5) at the world championships.

The success in the women’s individual sabre for the Russians was matched in the men’s competition when Alexey Yakimenko became world champion for the first time.

After two third place finishes in Leipzig in 2005 and Kazan in 2014, Yakimenko went one better by winning gold after convincingly beating America’s Daryl Homer by 15 touches to 5.

Yakimenko is the third Russian in three years to become world champion in the event, while for Homer this was his best result at a world championship since his 12th place finish in 2010, and with it the USA’s first ever world championship medal in the men's individual sabre.

Romania’s Tiberiu Dolniceanu and Germany’s Max Hartung took the bronze medals. Russia have now won 10 gold.