CANCUN, Mexico (October 19) – Arianna Errigo was back to winning ways last weekend as she claimed the gold medal in the first women’s foil World Cup of the 2016-17 season in Cancun, Mexico.
The 28-year-old world No. 1 was defeated in the second round of the competition in Rio de Janeiro in August, but in Mexico she blew away a strong field to clinch the win with a 15-6 victory over compatriot Elisa Vardaro in the final.
It was almost an Italian podium sweep: Martina Batini shared the bronze medal position with Nicole Ross of the United States. Ross’ teammate Lee Kiefer just missed out on the medals with 15-11 loss to Vardaro in the quarterfinals.
The results leave Errigo top of the world rankings on 264 points with Rio gold medallist Inna Deriglazova trailing by 33.
The individual medals were almost mirrored in the team event, which was held on the same weekend: Italy took gold with a 45-36 victory over the United States. Bronze went to Germany, which battled past France by a score of 45-39.
The World Cup is the second-most valuable event category of the season in terms of points available, after the Grand Prix Series.
Top-level fencers compete in five World Cups and three Grands Prix over the course of the season.
The other four World Cups in the women’s foil will be held in St-Maur (France), Algiers (Algeria), Gdansk (Poland) and Tauberbischofsheim (Germany).
Cancun will also host the first sabre Grand Prix of the season on December 16-18.
The next senior events on the FIE calendar are the women’s epee World Cup in Tallinn, Estonia and the men’s foil World Cup in Cairo.