BOURGES, France (April 4) - The Cadet World Championships wrapped up in Bourges on Monday night with a dramatic victory for the United States over Russia in the mixed event, while the Italians took the most medals overall.
At the Palais des Sports du Prado in the central French city, Team USA’s fencers ground out a hard-fought 60-57 win to claim their country’s seventh medal of the four-day competition for under-17 athletes.
Sylvie Binder got the final touch for the Americans to add a second gold to her individual foil victory earlier in the competition, a feat mirrored by her fellow foilist Geoffrey Tourette.
It was a fitting climax to a successful championships for Team USA, which dominated the competition along with the traditionally strong Italians.
Matteo Neri clinched gold in the men’s sabre by beating Erwin Cai of the United States 15-13, while Russia’s Artem Tselyshev and Vladislav Pozniakov shared the bronze.
An all-Italian final in the men’s epee saw Daniel de Mola defeat Gianpaolo Buzzacchino 15-14. The bronze medals went to Jakub Jurka of the Czech Republic and Adrien Thein-Sandler of the United States.
In the women’s sabre, Ywen Lau won Singapore’s first-ever fencing world gold medal at any level by beating Germany’s Larissa Eifler 15-14, while France’s Sarah Noutcha and Lisa Pusztai of Hungary took home bronze.
Another Italy-U.S. final saw Alessandra Bozza sweep aside Tatjana Stewart 15-7 for the women’s epee gold medal, and Beatrice Cagnin, also of Italy, shared bronze with Hungary’s Renata Petri.
In the men’s foil final, Tourette of the United States thrashed Russia’s Kirill Borodachev 15-2. The bronze went to Germany’s Luis Klein and Tommaso Marini of Italy.
Binder’s individual victory in the foil, meanwhile, was earned with a 15-12 win over Sera Azuma of Japan. Binder’s teammate Stefani Deschner shared the bronze medal podium with Lara Bertola of Italy.
The final medal count confirmed Italian-U.S. supremacy, with each country claiming three golds. The Americans took home two silver and two bronze, while the Italians won one silver and four bronze.
Russia clinched two silver and two bronze.
The next six days in Bourges will witness the Junior World Championships. The FIE will continue providing live results and a live stream on its YouTube channel complete with English commentary.
photo © Serge Timacheff