ORLEANS, France, Dec. 7-9, 2023 – France’s Manon Apithy-Brunet and Germany’s Matyas Szabo won gold medals at the Orleans “Trophée Nuoma” Women’s and Men’s Sabre Grand Prix. The event took place at the Palais des Sports, with semifinals and finals held at the Zénith d'Orléans, including 183 women and 211 men participating in the competition.
In the final bout of women’s individual sabre, Apithy-Brunet faced Ukraine’s four-time world champion Olga Kharlan, winning with a 15-12 score. Kharlan won against France’s Cecilia Berder in the semifinal round, 15-11, while Apithy-Brunet defeated teammate Sara Balzer, 15-8. Of note, Korea’s Hayoung Jeon beat Japan’s two-time world champion Misaki Emura in the table of 32, 15-14, going on to the quarterfinals where she lost to Kharlan, 15-13.
In the final bout of men’s individual sabre, Szabo faced France’s Maxime Pianfetti, winning with a 15-10 score. Pianfetti won against teammate Sebastien Patrice in the semifinal round, 15-11, while Szabo defeated Italy’s Pietro Torre, 15-10. Of note, Pianfetti beat Korea’s world champion Sanguk Oh in the quarterfinals, 15-12, and Hungary’s world champion and triple Olympic champion Aron Szilagyi in the table of 16, 15-12. Italy’s Luigi Samele beat Korea’s world champion Junghwan Kim in the table of 32, 15-10, before going to lose in the quarterfinals to teammate Torre, 15-8.
Final rankings in women’s individual sabre included Manon Apithy-Brunet (FRA, gold), Olga Kharlan (UKR, silver), Sara Balzer (FRA, bronze), Cecilia Berder (FRA, bronze), Lucia Martin-Portugues (ESP), Yaqi Shao (CHN), Hayoung Jeon (KOR) and Renata Katona (HUN).
Final rankings in men’s individual sabre included Matyas Szabo (GER, gold), Maxime Pianfetti (FRA, silver), Sebastien Patrice (FRA, bronze), Pietro Torre (ITA, bronze), Luigi Samele (ITA), Sanguk Oh (KOR), Ali Pakdaman (IRI) and Adham Moataz (EGY).
Complete and official results for this event may be found here on the FIE web site. For more exciting world fencing news and features, check out the YouTube FIE Fencing Channel