The women's senior epee regular season reached an exhilarating conclusion on the outskirts of Paris, where Italy's Alberta Santuccio delivered a magnificent performance to capture the gold medal at the St Maur World Cup. Serving as the fifth and final individual ranking event before the zonal and World Championships, the tournament saw the world number two firmly assert her dominance on the global stage. The victory marks Santuccio's second individual title of the campaign—following her gold at the Medellín Grand Prix—and a remarkable fifth individual podium in a sensational season that already includes silver medals from Fujairah and Wuxi, alongside a bronze in Astana.
Santuccio, the 2023 World Championship silver medallist and a two-time European bronze medalist, demonstrated absolute tactical superiority throughout a highly competitive direct elimination bracket. She opened her campaign by edging past Israel’s Botvinnik 14-13, before comfortably downing compatriot Lucrezia Paulis 15-8. In the round of 16, Santuccio defeated Poland's 2023 Junior European Champion Gloria Klughardt 14-11, followed by a commanding 15-10 quarterfinal victory over the United States' 2023 Pan American Champion, Catherine Nixon. She then booked her place in the final by turning back a spirited challenge from China’s Yang Jingwen, winning their semi-final clash 15-11.
The gold medal bout featured a stellar transnational encounter against the United States’ ninth-ranked Hadley Husisian, a double Pan American Championship silver medallist. Husisian reached the final after an imposing, giant-killing run through the bracket, which included a tight 15-13 round-of-16 victory over Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist Auriane Mallo-Breton of France, and a brilliant 15-12 quarterfinal upset of Estonia's Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallist Katrina Lehis. In the final, however, Santuccio left no room for suspense. The Italian star controlled the distance masterfully and pick-off Husisian's offensive extensions, cruising to an emphatic 15-8 victory to secure the St Maur World Cup crown.
The bronze medals were shared by Korea’s Lim Taehee and China’s Yang Jingwen. The 15th-ranked Lim secured her second podium of the campaign—replicating her bronze medal finish from the Vancouver World Cup earlier in the season—following a gruelling run that featured a tight 13-12 second-round win over France’s Diane Von Kerssenbrock and a clinical 15-12 quarterfinal victory over Kenya’s multi-titled veteran Alexandra Ndolo. Joining her on the third step of the podium was world number 23 Yang Jingwen, who locked down her first podium of the season. The reigning Asian Championship silver medallist earned her medal through a tier-one performance, highlighted by a stunning 15-13 round-of-16 upset of Korea's third-ranked reigning Asian Champion, Song Sera, followed by a dramatic 15-14 quarterfinal victory over Italy's Gaia Traditi. The elite top four sets a thrilling precedent as the senior epee field now transitions into the high-stakes postseason championships.
