RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, April 17, 2024 – USA and Italy won gold medals in junior women’s and men’s team epee at the 2024 Riyadh Junior and Cadet Fencing World Championships. Today’s competitions, on the sixth day of 18 individual and team events taking place from April 12 to 20, included 33 women’s and 42 men’s teams and are being held at the King Saud University Sports Arena.
USA faced Italy in the final match of junior women’s team epee, winning with a 42-27 score. In the semifinal round, Italy won against Canada, 45-43, while USA defeated France, 42-37. The bronze medal went to France over Canada, 45-35.
“It’s an incredible honour to be here”, said USA’s Michaela Joyce. “We had really difficult bouts and we had to trust in each other. Before this tournament we had only fenced with each other at a world cup one time. We had to believe in each other and just do it. France was the toughest bout and they trusted each other as well, but we all worked together. It’s just amazing that we’re here.”
Italy faced France in the final match of junior men’s team epee, winning with a 41-37 score. In the semifinal round, France won against Hungary, 45-40, while Italy defeated Switzerland, 45-32. The bronze medal went to Switzerland over Hungary, 45-37.
“The feeling amazing”, said Italy’s Jacopo Rizzi. “We won a lot of world cups, but the feeling of winning a World Championship is really amazing, I still can’t believe we won. The first match against Canada, our first match, was very hard. And then Korea’s speed in our match with them was insane. We don’t really have a strategy, if we fence like we do in training and national competitions, just fence to five points, and if we’re ahead we play with defense and time. We haven’t won a junior men’s team epee title in many years and this was the most important competition of the year.”
Final rankings in junior women’s team epee included USA (gold), Italy (silver), France (bronze), Canada, China, Hungary, Ukraine and Hong Kong – China.
Final rankings in junior men’s team epee included Italy (gold), France (silver), Switzerland (bronze), Hungary, USA, Egypt, Korea and Spain.
Complete and official results for the event may be found on the FIE website. For more exciting world fencing news and features, check out the YouTube FIE Fencing Channel.