Leipzig, Germany – Italy finished up this year’s World Fencing Championships as the clear overall winner, with 4 Gold, 1 Silver and 4 Bronze medals – a total medal count of 9. Russia’s team came home with 3 Gold and 3 Bronze, putting it in second place overall. From there, the medal count was much more spread around, with Korea taking up third place with 1 Gold and 2 Silvers.
Team USA finished up the event with 2 Silvers, putting it roughly 8th overall. Both Silvers came from the Men’s and Women’s Foil Team events after some disappointing results in the individual rounds where the US was favored to come out with at least one medal from one of the two events. Both Alexander Massialas and Lee Kiefer were seeded second in their individual events, but both were upset before the medal rounds. Massialas in particular ended the 2016-2017 World Cup season in first place for the second year in a row. Team USA overall posted lower than expected results, as a number of our top competitors were knocked out earlier than anticipated.
Other noteworthy results include Japan’s Silver and Bronze medals in Men’s Foil. Toshiya Saito had a breakout 2016/2017 season, jumping from FIE 100+ ranking to number 11, culminating in his Silver medal performance in this event. Takahiro Shikine, who earned Bronze, had a more steady rise, jumping up to top 64 on the FIE points list last season and ending at #17 this season. Considering that both are under 21 years old, Japan’s Men’s foil prospects are looking quite strong for the Tokyo 2020 quadrennial.
Also worth noting is that Estonia took home 3 medals total – 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze – entirely off of the Epee event. Estonia as a country has dedicated its international-level resources entirely in Men’s and Women’s Epee, effectively foregoing all other events. This year in particular, that strategy seems to have paid off. Those 3 medals puts Estonia at effectively 4th place in the medal count (or 5th, depending on how you count the medals). This is due in part to how spread out the medals are this season, but speaks strongly for Estonia’s overall strategy.
Among the more interesting moments of the night was Miles Chamley-Watson’s under-the-leg touch in the Men’s Foil team Gold medal bout:
And this incredible comeback in Men’s Team Saber:
The Championship event, which was held at Arena Leipzig over the week of July 19 through 26, rotates locations every year. The 2018 event will be held in Wuxi, China.
Full Medal Results
Women’s Foil
1. RUS – DERIGLAZOVA Inna
2. ITA – VOLPI Alice
3. FRA – THIBUS Ysaora
T3. ITA – ERRIGO Arianna
…
9. USA – KIEFER Lee
29. USA – LU Margaret
33. USA – ROSS Nicole
38. USA – MASSIALAS Sabrina (Medical Withdrawl)
Men’s Epee
1. ITA – PIZZO Paolo
2. EST – NOVOSJOLOV Nikolai
3. HUN – REDLI Andras
T3. GER – SCHMIDT Richard
…
69. USA – BRATTON Benjamin
81. USA – RODNEY Adam
103. USA – SCHUMACHER Cooper
117. USA – PRYOR Jason
Men’s Saber
1. HUN – SZATMARI Andras
2. KOR – GU Bongil
3. FRA – ANSTETT Vincent
T3. RUS – IBRAGIMOV Kamil
…
19. USA – DERSHWITZ Eli
33. USA – HOMER Daryl
43. USA – SPEAR Jeff
66. USA – LOSS Geoffrey
Men’s Foil
1. RUS – ZHEREBCHENKO Dmitry
2. JPN – SAITO Toshiya
3. JPN – SHIKINE Takahiro
T3. ITA – GAROZZO Daniele
…
5. USA – MASSIALAS Alexander
8. USA – IMBODEN Race
11. USA – MEINHARDT Gerek
18. USA – CHAMLEY-WATSON Miles
Women’s Epee
1. RUS – GUDKOVA Tatiana
2. POL – NELIP Ewa
3. EST – BELJAJEVA Julia
T3. UKR – KRYVYTSKA Olena
…
19. USA – HURLEY Kelley
34. USA – HURLEY Courtney
38. USA – VAN BRUMMEN Anna
60. USA – HOLMES Katharine
Women’s Saber
1. UKR – KHARLAN Olga
2. TUN – BESBES Azza
3. ITA – VECCHI Irene
T3. FRA – BERDER Cecilia
…
24. USA – AKSAMIT Monica
25. USA – WOZNIAK Dagmara
36. USA – MUHAMMAD Ibtihaj
45. USA – STONE Anne-Elizabeth
Team Women’s Foil
1. ITA – ITALY
2. USA – USA
3. RUS – RUSSIA
Team Men’s Saber
1. KOR – KOREA
2. HUN – HUNGARY
3. ITA – ITALY
…
4. USA – USA
Team Men’s Epee
1. FRA – FRANCE
2. SUI – SWITZERLAND
3. RUS – RUSSIA
…
11. USA – USA
Team Women’s Saber
1. ITA – ITALY
2. KOR – KOREA
3. FRA – FRANCE
…
7. USA – USA
Team Men’s Foil
1. ITA – ITALY
2. USA – USA
3. FRA – FRANCE
Team Women’s Epee
1. EST – ESTONIA
2. CHN – CHINA
3. POL – POLAND
…
7. USA – USA
Medal Count:
Gold Silver Bronze Total ITA 4 1 4 9 RUS 3 3 6 KOR 1 2 3 EST 1 1 1 3 HUN 1 1 1 3 FRA 1 4 5 UKR 1 1 2 USA 2 2 JPN 1 1 2 POL 1 1 2 TUN 1 1 SUI 1 1 CHN 1 1 GER 1 1
Complete results can be found here care of Fencing Worldwide.
