Salt Lake City Women’s & Men's Sabre World Cup, Jan. 22-25.
Sarah Noutcha of France achieved a personal best performance, outduelling a field of 184 fencers to defeat two-time World Champion (2022, 2023) Misaki Emura of Japan 15–14, earning her first World Cup gold medal at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The 26-year-old Noutcha, who had previously claimed two silver and four bronze medals at World Cups and Grand Prix events, also defeated Michela Battiston of Italy, winner of the Orléans Grand Prix in December, 15–8 in the semi-finals.
It marked a second consecutive silver medal for Emura, who was also runner-up two weeks earlier at the Tunis Grand Prix. In the semi-finals, Emura defeated 2025 World Champion Yana Egorian (_AIN) 15–11.
Egorian reached the semi-finals by overcoming 2024 Paris Olympic Champion Manon Apithy of France 15–13 in the quarter-finals.
Battiston and Egorian both earned bronze medals.
Final Rankings – Women’s Individual Sabre
Sarah Noutcha (FRA, gold), Misaki Emura (JPN, silver), Michela Battiston (ITA, bronze), Yana Egorian (_AIN, bronze), Sugar Katinka Battai (HUN), Lucía Martín-Portugués (ESP), Anna Spiesz (HUN), Manon Apithy (FRA).
The men’s competition, featuring a field of 210 fencers, saw 2024 Paris Olympic Champion Sanguk Oh of Republic of Korea return to the top of the podium. One of the most decorated sabreurs in history, Oh defeated Mao Kokubo of Japan 15–12 to claim the gold medal.
Oh, the 2019 World Champion, captured his 25th World Cup and Grand Prix medal, including his 11th gold. In the semi-finals, he overcame 20-year-old 2025 Junior World Champion Cosimo Bertini of Italy (Wuxi, China) 15–5.
In the other semi-final, Kokubo edged Ziad Elsissy of Egypt 15–11. Elsissy reached the semi-finals by narrowly defeating Vlad Covaliu of Romania 15–14. Covaliu, the 2024 Junior World Champion (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia), was also the runner-up at the 2025 Junior World Championships to Bertini in Wuxi.
Elsissy and Bertini both claimed bronze medals.
Final Rankings – Men’s Individual Sabre
Sanguk Oh (KOR, gold), Mao Kokubo (JPN, silver), Cosimo Bertini (ITA, bronze), Ziad Elsissy (EGY, bronze), Gyeongdong Do (KOR), Sangwon Park (KOR), Vlad Covaliu (ROU), Bongil Gu (KOR).
France replicated its 2025 World Championship (Tbilisi) success by once again defeating Republic of Korea 45–37 to claim the gold medal at the Salt Lake City World Cup, in a competition featuring twenty teams.
The dominant French trio of 2024 Olympic Champion Manon Apithy, silver medallist Sara Balzer, and Sarah Noutcha, who won individual gold in Salt Lake City, proved too strong for the Korean team.
Korea’s line-up included fourth-ranked Hayoung Jeon, tenth-ranked Jeongmi Kim and Jiyoung Choi.
France defeated China 45–39 in the semi-finals, while Korea edged Japan 45–44. Japan, just one touch away from contesting the final, were then convincingly beaten 45–33 by China, who secured the bronze medal.
Final Rankings – Women’s Team Sabre
France (gold), Korea (silver), China (bronze), Japan, Hungary, United States of America, Bulgaria, Poland.
In the men’s competition, Korea emerged on top of a field of twenty-two teams, defeating a young and rising United States team 45–40 in the final.
Korea were led by Paris 2024 Olympic Champion Sanguk Oh, while the American team featured nineteen-year-old William Morrill and twenty-year-olds Colin Heathcock and Darii Lukashenko.
Both teams had to come from behind to reach the final. Korea trailed Poland 40–36 before Oh defeated Benedikt Denkiewicz 9–4 to secure a dramatic 45–44 victory. The United States were behind 40–39 against France when Heathcock outduelled Sébastien Patrice 6–3 to clinch the match 45–43.
Poland went on to defeat France 45–44 to claim the bronze medal.
Final Rankings – Men’s Team Sabre
Korea (gold), USA (silver), Poland (bronze), France, Hungary, China, Italy, Canada.
The series continues with these exciting FIE Senior Grand Prix and World Cup events in 2026!
· Turin, Italy Foil Grand Prix – February 5-7
· Heidenheim, Germany Epee World Cup – February 5-7
· Wuxi, China Epee World Cup – February 6-8
Complete and official results and photos: FIE website
Watch the entire competitions: www.FencingTV.com