The women's senior epee team regular season concluded with a thrilling display of clutch fencing in France, where the top-seeded Korean squad captured the gold medal at the St Maur World Cup. Serving as the fifth and final team event of the regular calendar before the zonal and World Championships, the tournament saw the Republic of Korea firmly cement its status as the world's premier epee program. The triumph marks the Korean's second consecutive World Cup team title - following their victory in Astana - and caps a dominant regular season featuring four total podium appearances.
The Korean lineup of Lee Hyein, individual St Maur bronze medallist Lim Taehee, Song Sera, and Yang Seunghye displayed impressive consistency throughout the day. After an opening bye, the top seeds comfortably defeated Austria (45-33), Israel (45-38), and seventh-seeded Poland (45-33) to reach the final four.
In the semi-finals, the Republic of Korea engaged in a razor-thin battle with sixth-seeded Hungary. The Koreans built a marginal 14-11 advantage over the first three legs and extended their lead to a seemingly comfortable 29-22 cushion after six rounds. Hungary staged a late comeback to close the gap to 31-35 heading into the final leg. In a breath-taking anchor bout, Hungary’s Eszter Muhari racked up 13 hits, but the Republic of Korea's Song Sera held her ground to secure a 45-44 victory.
The gold medal match pitted Korea against the ninth-seeded Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN), who lined up with Milen Bavuge Khabimana, Aizanat Murtazaeva, Anastasiia Rustamova, and Kristina Yasinskaya. In a low-scoring, highly tactical encounter, the Republic of Korea held a small 8-5 lead after three fights. The AIN contingent surged back in the middle fights to lead 18-17 after six bouts, before putting together a massive push to establish a commanding 28-23 lead entering the final relay.
Tasked with a five-touch deficit in the anchor leg, Song Sera produced a legendary comeback for the Koreans. Fencing against Murtazaeva, Song engineered a brilliant 9-4 run to level the score at 32-32 as time expired. Moving into a high-stakes priority minute, Song converted the decisive touch to seal a dramatic 33-32 victory and secure the gold medal.
For the silver medallist AIN squad, the second-place finish marked a major milestone as their first team podium of the regular season. Their giant-killing path to the final included a 45-40 round-of-16 victory over Vancouver World Cup winners Estonia, followed by a tight 32-31 quarterfinal upset of world number two team USA. In the semi-finals, they edged out third-seeded France 36-35 in a fluctuating match where Murtazaeva provided a critical spark, scoring four unanswered touches in the fifth leg to swing the momentum.
Hungary captured the bronze medal following an equally enthralling third-place play-off against host nation France. Represented by Eszter Muhari, Lili Buki, Emma Borsody and Blanka Nagy, the sixth seeds established a 15-12 lead after three legs and maintained a two-touch cushion at 29-26 heading into the final tier. France's Diane Von Kerssenbrock mounted a comeback in the seventh leg to level the score at 33-33 against Nagy, but Lili Buki managed to hand over a 36-34 advantage to the Hungarian anchor, Muhari. Despite a massive ninth-leg effort from France's Alexandra Louis Marie, Muhari successfully doubled out to secure a 45-44 victory. The bronze marks Hungary's second team podium of the campaign, following their silver medal in Vancouver.
With Hungary claiming the bronze, the third-seeded French lineup of Auriane Mallo-Breton, Aliya Luty, Diane Von Kerssenbrock, and Alexandra Louis Marie finished in an agonizing fourth place. The result perfectly mirrored their fourth-place finish from the Astana World Cup earlier in the year. Despite missing the home podium by a single touch, France proved their elite standing earlier in the day by recording a stellar 45-41 quarterfinal victory over fifth-seeded and Wuxi World Cup champions China, closing out a fascinating regular season as the global epee elite look ahead to the postseason championships.