PARIS, France, Jan. 11-14, 2024 – China’s Qingyuan Chen and Italy’s World Champion Tommaso Marini won the women’s and men’s individual gold medals at the Mazars Challenge International de Paris Women’s and Men’s Foil World Cup, with Italy and USA winning the women’s and men’s team events. The event took place at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin, with 229 women and 290 men as well as 25 women’s and 28 men’s teams participating in the competition.
Chen faced Italy’s Elena Tangherlini in the final bout of women’s individual foil, winning with a 15-13 score. In the semifinal round, Tangherlini won against teammate Martina Favaretto, 15-14, while Chen defeated Canada’s Jessica Zi Jia Guo, 15-13. Of note, Tangherlini won against USA’s Olympic champion Lee Kiefer in the quarterfinals, 15-13, while Chen beat Italian two-time world champion Alice Volpi in the round of 16, 15-7, and Italy’s Francesca Palumbo defeated France’s world champion Ysaora Thibus in the same round, 11-10.
Marini faced teammate and world champion Alessio Foconi in the final bout of men’s individual foil, winning with a 15-12 score. In the semifinal round, Foconi won against teammate Guillaume Bianchi, 15-6, while Marini defeated teammate Filippo Macchi, 15-9. Of note, USA’s Alexander Massialas beat teammate and world champion Miles Chamley-Watson in the round of 16, 15-12, Bianchi won against Hong Kong, China’s Olympic champion Ka Long Cheung, 15-13, and France’s Maxime Pauty defeated teammate and two-time world champion Enzo Lefort, 15-14.
In the women’s team foil event, Italy faced France in the final match, winning with a 45-41 score. In the semifinal round, France won against Poland, 45-38, while Italy defeated Japan, 45-31. The bronze medal went to Poland over Japan, 44-41.
In the men’s team foil event, USA faced Japan in the final match, winning with a 45-39 score. In the semifinal round, Japan won against France, 45-43, while USA defeated Italy, 45-44. The bronze medal went to France over Italy, 45-32.
Final rankings in women’s individual foil included Qingyuan Chen (CHN, gold), Elena Tangherlini (ITA, silver), Martina Favaretto (ITA, bronze), Jessica Zi Jia Guo (CAN, bronze), Lee Kiefer (USA), Julia Walczyk-Klimaszyk (POL), Francesca Palumbo (ITA) and Erica Cipressa (ITA).
Final rankings in men’s individual foil included Tommaso Marini (ITA, gold), Alessio Foconi (ITA, silver), Guillaume Bianchi (ITA, bronze), Filippo Macchi (ITA, bronze), Alexander Massialas (USA), Gerek Meinhardt (USA), Maxime Pauty (FRA) and David Sosnov (GBR).
Final rankings in women’s team foil included Italy (gold), France (silver), Poland (bronze), Japan, USA, Hungary, Canada and China.
Final rankings in men’s team foil included USA (gold), Japan (silver), France (bronze), Italy, China, Germany, Poland and Egypt.
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.