Russia’s women’s squad won medals in five of six events to headline the FIE World Championships at the BOK Sports Hall in Budapest (HUN), with its Olympic Champion showing she is ready to defend her title in Tokyo.
There was little surprise when Foil star Inna Deriglazova, who has dominated the event since 2015, won her third World Championship, defeating France’s Pauline Ranvier, 15-11 in the final. But Deriglazova also helped her team to their first Worlds gold since 2016 and was the only fencer to win two events in 2019.
There were no repeat champions from 2018, but three from 2017: Deriglazova won in Foil, as did Ukraine’s Olga Kharlan in Sabre (her fourth), and Hungary’s Andras Szatmari, who won his second World Championship in mens Sabre.
In all there were 10 multi-medalists (shown G-S-B):
Men (5):
● 1-1-0 ~ Enzo Lafort (FRA): Men’s Foil gold and Team Foil silver
● 1-1-0 ~ Andras Szatmari (HUN): Men’s Sabre gold and Team Sabre silver
● 1-1-0 ~ Sang-Uk Oh (KOR): Men’s Sabre silver and Team Sabre gold
● 0-1-1 ~ Igor Reizlin (UKR): Men’s Epee bronze and Team Epee silver
● 0-0-2 ~ Luca Curatoli (ITA): Men’s Sabre bronze and Team Sabre bronze
Women (5):
● 2-0-0 ~ Inna Deriglazova (RUS): Women’s Foil gold and Team Foil gold
● 1-1-0 ~ Sheng Lin (CHN): Women’s Epee silver and Team Epee gold
● 1-1-0 ~ Sofya Velikaya (RUS): Women’s Sabre silver and Team Sabre gold
● 0-1-1 ~ Arianna Errigo (ITA): Women’s Foil bronze and Team Foil silver
● 0-1-1 ~ Elisa Di Francesca (ITA): Women’s Foil bronze and Team Foil silver
The U.S., expected to do well, was shut out of the individual medals and looked like it might be shut out entirely for the first time since 2007. But the women’s Foil team scored a bronze medal on the penultimate day, defeating France, 45-43, with team members Jackie Dubrovich, Lee Kiefer, Nzingha Prescod and Nicole Ross.
That was accompanied by a welcome victory in the men’s Team Foil event, in which the U.S. has a formidable quartet of Gerek Meinhardt, Alexander Massialas, Race Imboden and Miles Chamley-Watson. They clubbed Russia in the semifinals, 45-30 and made short work of France in the final by 45-32.
U.S. women won the Team Epee and Team Foil at the 2018 Worlds, but this was the first men’s title in a full World Championships ever! The U.S. men’s Epee team did win the world title in a special Worlds in 2012 that included on that event, because it was not on the Olympic program.
Summaries:
FIE World Championships
Budapest (HUN) ~ 15-23 July 2019
(Full results here)
Men
Epee: 1. Gergely Siklosi (HUN); 2. Sergey Bida (RUS); 3. Andrea Santarelli (ITA) and Igor Reizlin (UKR). Semis: Siklosi d. Santarelli, 15-9; Bida d. Reizlin, 15-10. Final: Siklosi d. Bida, 15-14.
Team Epee: 1. France (Bardenet, Bortel, Gustin, Jerent); 2. Ukraine (Herey, Nikishin, Reizlin, Svichkar); 3. Switzerland (Heinzer, Malcotti, Niggeler, Steffen); 4. China. Semis: Ukraine d. China, 38-24; France d. Switzerland, 45-27. Third: Switzerland d. Chianb, 45-35. Final: France d. Ukraine, 45-37.
Foil: 1. Enzo Lefort (FRA); 2. Marcus Mepstead (GBR); 3. Young Ki Son (KOR) and Dmitry Zherebchenko (RUS). Semis: Lefort d. Zherenchenko, 15-7; Mepstead d. Son, 15-12. Final: Lefort d. Mepstead, 15-6.
Team Foil: 1. United States (Miles Chamley-Watson, Race Imboden, Gerek Meinhardt, Alexander Massialas); 2. France (Le Pechoux, Lefort, Mertine, Pauty); 3. Italy (Avola, Cassara, Foconi, Garozzo); 4. Russia. Semis: U.S. d. Russia, 45-30; France d. Italy, 45-32. Third: Italy d. Russia, 45-32. Final: U.S. d. France, 45-32.
Sabre: 1. Andras Szatmari (HUN); 2. Sang-Uk Oh (KOR); 3. Luca Curatoli (ITA) and Majtaba Abedini (IRI). Semis: Szatmari d. Abedini, 15-8; Oh d. Curatoli, 15-11. Final: Szatmari d. Oh, 15-12.
Team Sabre: 1. Korea (Gu, Ha, Kim, Oh); 2. Hungary (Decsi Gemesi, Szatmari, Szilagyi); 3. Italy (Berre, Curatoli, Montano, Samele); 4. Germany. Semis: Korea d. Germany, 45-22; Hungary d. Italy, 45-38. Third: Italy d. Germany, 45-38. Final: Korea d. Hungary, 45-44.
Women
Epee: 1. Nathalie Moellhausen (BRA); 2. Sheng Lin (CHN); 3. Olena Krvytska (UKR) and Man Wai Vivian Kong (HKG). Semis: Moellhausen d. Kong, 15-11; Lin d. Krvytska, 15-14. Final: Moellhausen d. Lin, 13-12.
Team Epee: 1. China (Lin, Sun, Xu, Zhu); 2. Russia (Andryushina, Khrapina, Kolobova, Shutova); 3. Italy (Clerici, Fiamingo, Isola, Navarria); 4. Ukraine. Semis: China d. Italy, 44-31; Russia d. Ukraine, 42-40. Third: Italy d. Ukraine, 45-36. Final: China d. Russia, 29-28.
Foil: 1. Inna Deriglazova (RUS); 2. Pauline Ranvier (FRA); 3. Arianna Errigo (ITA) and Elisa Di Francesca (ITA). Semis: Deriglazova d. Di Francesca, 15-13; Ranvier d. Errigo, 15-13. Final: Deriglazova d. Ranvier, 15-11.
Team Foil: 1. Russia (Deriglazova, Ivanova, Korobeynikova, Zagidullina); 2. Italy (Di Francesca, Errigo, Palumbo, Volpi); 3. United States (Jackie Dubrovich, Lee Kiefer, Nzingha Prescod, Nicole Ross); 4. France. Semis: Italy d. France, 45-37; Russia d. U.S., 45-36. Third: U.S. d. France, 45-43. Final: Russia d. Italy, 43-42.
Sabre: 1. Olga Kharlan (UKR); 2. Sofya Velikaya (RUS); 3. Theodora Gkountoura (GRE) and Bianca Pascu (ROU). Semis: Kharlan d. Pascu, 15-5; Velikaya d. Gkountoura, 15-11. Final: Kharlan d. Velikaya, 15-14.
Team Sabre: 1. Russia (Egorian, Nikitina, Pozdniakova, Velikaya); 2. France (Berder, Brunet, Lembach, Queroli); 3. Korea (Choi, Hwang, J-Y Kim, Yoon)); 4. Italy. Semis: France d. Korea, 45-43; Russia d. Italy, 45-37. Third: Korea d. Italy, 45-35. Final: Russia d. France, 45-40.