WUXI, China, July 24, 2018—Russia’s Sofia Pozdniakova scored gold in women’s sabre and Italy’s Alessio Foconi won men’s foil on the third and final evening of individual competition at the 2018 Wuxi Fencing World Championships. Nearly 250 top international fencers participated in the two tournaments, part of nine days of 12 individual and team epee, foil and sabre events taking place at the spectacular Wuxi Sports Center Gym.
Pozdniakova had a very successful ascent to victory in the women’s individual sabre event, defeating teammate, two-time world champion and Olympic silver medallist Sofya Velikaya in the final round, 15-13. This was Velikaya’s fifth medal in a world championship. In the semi-final round, Pozdniakova defeated USA’s Anne-Elizabeth Stone, 15-6, and Velikaya overtook teammate and Olympic gold medallist Yana Egorian by a single touch, 15-14.
Foconi, ranked second in the world, beat Great Britain’s Richard Kruse in the final match of the men’s individual foil event, 15-8. Notably, this was the first medal for Great Britain in any event at the senior fencing world championships in more than a half century. This was the first time Italy has won this event since 2011, and it has now won a record 47 world championship medals in individual men’s foil, including 13 golds. In the semi-final round, Kruse overcame Spain’s Carlos Llavador, 15-11, and Foconi beat Korea’s Heo Jun, 15-12. The Korean beat Italian Olympic gold medallist Daniele Garozzo in the quarter-finals, 15-14.
The top-eight finalists in women’s individual sabre at the 2018 Wuxi Fencing World Championships include Sofia Pozdniakova (RUS, gold), Sofya Velikaya (RUS, silver), Yana Egorian (RUS, bronze), Anne-Elizabeth Stone (USA, bronze), Cecilia Berder (FRA), Jiarui Qian (CHN), Yaqi Shao (CHN) and Theodora Gkountoura (GRE).
In men’s individual foil, the top eight included Alessio Foconi (ITA, gold), Richard Kruse (GBR, silver), Jun Heo (KOR, bronze), Carlos Llavador (ESP, bronze), Daniele Garozzo (ITA), Giorgio Avola (ITA), Enzo Lefort (FRA) and James-Andrew Davis (GBR).
Complete results from the 2018 Fencing World Championships may be found here for women’s individual sabre and here for men’s individual foil. Complete event information may be found at the official event web site.