WUXI, China, July 23, 2018—Italy’s Alice Volpi took the gold medal in women’s individual foil and France’s Yannick Borel won men’s individual epee on the second evening of finals competition at the 2018 Wuxi Fencing World Championships. Twelve events in all are being fenced throughout the tournament over nine days, including both individual and team competition for men and women in epee, foil and sabre. The Championships are being held at the Wuxi Sports Center Gym with more than 280 international athletes participating in today’s competitions.
After winning a silver medal at last year’s Leipzig Fencing World Championships, Volpi became the new women’s foil world champion in Wuxi, defeating France’s Ysaora Thibus in the final match, 15-12. Thibus had a very strong path to the final round, winning against Italian two-time world champion and Olympic silver medallist Arianna Errigo in the semi-finals, 15-2, and narrowly defeating Olympic gold medallist and two-time world champion Russian Inna Deriglazova in the quarter-finals, 15-14. Deriglazova won this event in 2016 and 2017. Volpi was ultimately victorious, however, and reached the finals after winning against Tunisia’s Ines Boubakri in the semi-finals, 15-7, and her teammate, Camilla Mancini, in the quarter-finals, 15-9.
Borel is the second fencer ever to win men’s individual epee at both the European and world championships in a single year, following France’s Hugues Obry in 1998. Borel faced Venezuela’s Olympic gold medallist Ruben Limardo Gascon in the final match, winning with a 15-4 score. Notably, France has now won a record 14 world titles in men's individual epee, but today was only the second time it has won in the last decade after Ulrich Robeiri took the gold in 2014. Top-ranked Ukrainian epeeist Bogdan Nikishin went out in the semi-finals to Limardo Gascon, 7-4, while Borel defeated Nikishin’s teammate, Roman Svichkar, in the same round, 15-11. Korean Olympic gold medallist Sangyoung Park was also overcome by Limardo Gascon in the quarter-finals, 13-10.
The top-eight finalists in women’s individual foil at the 2018 Wuxi Fencing World Championships include Alice Volpi (ITA, gold), Ysaora Thibus (FRA, silver), Ines Boubakri (TUN, bronze), Arianna Errigo (ITA, bronze), Inna Deriglazova (RUS), Lee Kiefer (USA), Camilla Mancini (ITA) and Nzingha Prescod (USA).
In men’s individual epee, the top eight included Yannick Borel (FRA, gold), Ruben Limardo Gascon (VEN, silver), Bogdan Nikishin (UKR, bronze), Roman Svichkar (UKR, bronze), Sangyoung Park (KOR), Dmitriy Alexanin (KAZ), Benjamin Steffen (SUI) and Curtis McDowald (USA).
Complete results from the 2018 Fencing World Championships may be found here for women’s individual foil and here for men’s individual epee. Complete event information may be found at the official event web site.