World’s best look to claim their part of épée history at World Fencing Championships

If successful, Grumier, the top ranked epeeist will complete his medal set in this event having claimed the silver medal in 2010 and taking the bronze in 2014.

Following Ulrich Robeiri's gold medal in 2014, a win by Gauthier or any other French fencer for that matter would see France win the men's individual épée at consecutive world championships.

France is already the last country to win this event in back-to-back editions, as Eric Srecki in 1995 and 1997 and Hugues Obry in 1998 claimed the men's individual épée title three times in a row. In fact France has won the men's individual épée a record 13 times at the world championships, with Hungary, Italy and the Soviet Union all following with only six titles..

Estonia’s Nikolai Novosjolov won the men's individual épée in 2010 and 2013, so another world championship gold medal in this event would put him on a par with the Aleksey Nikanchikov of the former Soviet Union who won three gold medals in men's individual épée in 1966, 1967 and 1970.

Russia’s Pavel Kolobkov holds the record of four gold medals from success in 1993, 1994, 2002 and 2005 in this event, however curiously Novosjolov has not claimed a medal of any other colour other than gold in the men's individual épée.

Italy’s Enrico Garozzo and his fellow countrymen will be looking to become the sixth Italian gold medallist in this event and the first since Paolo Pizzo back in 2011. Garozzo did claim the bronze medal in Kazan in 2014.

The Swiss quartet of Max Heinzer, Fabian Kautier, Benjamin Steffen and Peer Borsky will be hoping to become the first gold medallist from Switzerland who have claimed three silver and three bronze medals in this event. No other country has taken more than three medals in men's individual épée without winning the gold medal individual, with the team épée in both the men's and women's competitions being the only events Switzerland has won medals in at the World Championships.

Curiously no fencer has taken the crown of men's individual épée world champion on home soil since Italy’s Paolo Pizzo won the gold medal in Catania in 2011.

This will be a statistic that 2009 world champion Anton Avdeev and his fellow Russian fencers will hope to address in front of the Moscow crowds.

A win by any of the Russian athletes would put Russia on a par with Italy, Hungary and Soviet Union on six gold medals in the men's individual épée.

And after the joint Russian success of Alexey Yakimenko and Sofya Velikaya in the men’s and women’s sabre respectively to get this year’s World Championships off the ground, it may be brave person to bet against further success for the hosts in the épée competition.