Cecilia Berder has taken individual and team gold for France at the 2019 Absolute Fencing Gear FIE Women’s Sabre World Cup held at Salt Lake City’s Salt Palace Convention Center last weekend.
France’s Berder stepped on to a World Cup podium for the third time at Salt Lake City’s World Cup event over the weekend, and for the third time it was to collect gold, having never won any other colour medal at this level. She also continued her affinity with doing so in the United States, having last won a world cup in New York in January, 2017.
Berder defeated Russia’s two-time world champion Sofya Velikaya, 15-7 in the semi-final, and was then good enough to hold out Hungary’s number-two-ranked Anna Marton, 15-14 in the final. Marton had defeated Italy’s Irene Vecchi in her semi-final, while reigning world champion, 21-year-old Russian Sofia Pozdniakowska was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Velikaya, 15-12.
Berder expressed her joy at winning on her Instagram account, posting a picture of her being hoisted aloft by her teammates along with the caption; “Huge happiness to fence and of course to win. My greatest pride though was to hear the tricolours encourage me throughout the day more than any other team.”
In the teams, she made it a double by winning against Hungary 45-42 in the final. Her team had beaten China to reach it, 45-37, while France had prevailed over Italy by the same score line. Italy were then good enough to beat China for the bronze, 45-40.
Final Results – Salt Lake City Women’s Sabre World Cup
Women’s Sabre Individual Results:
1. Cecilia Berder (FRA, gold)
2. Anna Marton (HUN, silver)
3. Irene Vecchi (ITA, bronze)
3. Sofya Velikaya (RUS, bronze)
5. Sofia Pozdniakova (RUS)
6. Jiyeon Kim (KOR),
7. Liza Pusztai (HUN)
8. Theodora Gkountoura (GRE)
Full results on FIE.org
Women’s Sabre Team Results:
1. France (gold)
2. Hungary (silver)
3. Italy (bronze)
4. China
5. USA
6. Korea
7. Ukraine
8. Russia
Full results on FIE.org