ORLÉANS, France, Dec. 5-7, 2024 – Korea’s Hayoung Jeon and France’s Jean-Philippe Patrice won gold medals at the 2024 Orléans “Trophée Nuoma” Women’s and Men’s Sabre Grand Prix. The preliminary rounds took place at the Palais des Sports with 176 women and 225 men participating in the competition, and the semifinals and finals were held at the Orléans “Zénith” venue.
Jeon faced Greece’s Theodora Gkountoura in the final bout of women’s individual sabre, winning with a 15-7 score. In the semifinal round, Gkountoura won against teammate Despina Georgiadou, 15-13, while Jeon defeated Bulgaria’s Yoana Ilieva, 15-13. Of note, in the quarterfinals Ilieva beat France’s Olympic champion Manon Apithy, 15-14, and in the round of 32, Italy’s Mariella Viale won against Japan’s world champion Misaki Emura, 15-14, and Poland’s Julia Cieslar defeated Ukraine’s four-time world champion Olga Kharlan, 15-14.
Patrice faced USA’s Colin Heathcock in the final bout of men’s individual sabre, winning with a 15-14 score. In the semifinal round, Heathcock won against Tunisia’s Fares Ferjani, 15-11, while Patrice defeated teammate Sebastien Patrice, 15-12.
Final rankings in women’s individual sabre included Hayoung Jeon (KOR, gold), Theodora Gkountoura (GRE, silver), Yoana Ilieva (BUL, bronze), Despina Georgiadou (GRE, bronze), Manon Apithy (FRA), Nisanur Erbil (TÜR), Mariella Viale (ITA) and Andreea Lupu (ROU).
Final rankings in men’s individual sabre included Jean-Philippe Patrice (FRA, gold), Colin Heathcock (USA, silver), Fares Ferjani (TUN, bronze), Sebastien Patrice (FRA, bronze), Luca Curatoli (ITA), Maxime Pianfetti (FRA), Kaito Streets (JPN) and Ahmed Hesham (EGY).
Complete and official results for these events may be found here on the FIE web site. For more exciting world fencing news and features, check out the YouTube FIE Fencing Channel.