Gold for foil fencers and epee fencers at the World Championships in Milan: an important step towards Paris 2024

Italian fencing continues to make its mark at the World Championships in Milan.

Indeed, on the second day dedicated to the team trials, a double gold medal was secured on the Allianz MiCo pistes. 

Arianna Errigo, Martina Favaretto, Alice Volpi, and Francesca Palumbo triumphed in women’s foil while Gabriele Cimini, Davide Di Veroli, Andrea Santarelli, and Federico Vismara won in men’s epee.

With this result both teams (photo Federscherma) take a decisive step in their respective qualification paths towards the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

The Italian women debuted in the draw directly in the round of 16, in which they easily saw off Romania (45-18). They also cruised through the quarter-finals against Germany, who went down to a one-sided score of 45-23. The women, led by coach Stefano Cerioni, went on to secure their route to the final with a convincing 43-30 defeat of Japan.

The gold medal match, in the end, saw the Azzurri take on France with Pauline Ranvier, Solene Butruille, Morgane Patru and Ysaora Thibus. The French women were forced to surrender 45-39 in a match that saw them in the hunt from the first to the last bout.

There were hugs and tears for our foil fencers, who managed to repeat the title won last year in Cairo (Egypt). Completing the podium was Japan, who got the better of the USA 45-34 in the final for bronze.

No less exciting was the route taken by the Azzurri men, who in the first round and the round of 16 barely gave either Brazil (44-21) or Egypt (44-25) a chance. Later, in the quarter-finals, it took a determined performance to tame the Czech Republic, who succumbed by just 38-36.

Managed by coach Dario Chiadò, the men returned to dominate the proceedings once again in the semi-finals, wrapping things up with a score of 35-23 against a tough Venezuela team.

The showdown, just as in the women’s foil, saw the Italians face off against France, represented on the piste by Gaetan Billa, Romain Cannone, Alexandre Bardenet and Yannick Borel. After an equal start, the tricolour team took the lead, annihilating their opponents with a resounding 45-32.

It was a huge feat for our fencers who, after last year’s silver medal, finally brought the world championship title back to Italy after 30 years. Finally, bronze went to Venezuela, who beat Korea 45-41 in the final for a place on the podium.