Russia’s Velikaya marks return with European Title
Thirty-three year old Russian women’s sabre fencer, Sofya Velikaya, who only returned to competitive action a few months ago, picked up her fourth European title today in Novi Sad. She beat French fencer Ceclia Berder, 15-10 in the final.
Velikaya took an extended break after winning back-to-back Olympic silver medals in Rio in 2016. She returned to action earlier this season at the Moscow Grand Prix, taking that title in stunning fashion. So she arrived in Serbia as one of the favourites. Other contenders, including Hungarian Anna Marton, Manon Brunet of France and Olga Kharlan were all eliminated earlier than expected.
Velikaya started the day slowly, dropping three fights in the first round. Her low seeding meant that she faced Italy’s World number two, Rosella Gregorio early on but managed the fight well to win 15-11. She went on to beat Hungary’s rising teenage star, Liza Pusztai 15-5 on her way to the semi-finals, where she took on Poland’s Marta Puda. Velikaya dominated every aspect of that fight, making the gold medal match with a 15-6 victory.
Berder’s progress to the top four was assured, comfortably beating everyone on the way to her semi-final against young Russian fencer, Svetlana Sheveleva. Berder impressively controlled the first period to take an 8-4 lead into the break. The Russian fared better in the second period but the more experienced Berder won comfortably 15-10.
In the final, Velikaya completely dominated the first period, controlling the footwork in the middle of the piste to take an 8-3 lead. A more patient Berder came out for the second period and fought her way back into the match. First she was able to unleash her long attack, which forced Velikaya into coming off the line faster. Berder used that to her advantage to get back to 11-10 down before Velikaya went up through the gears, attacking her way to her fourth European title.
The Championships continue tomorrow with the men’s individual epee and women’s individual foil events.
Full result are available online here.
