Top seeds Italy clinched the Women’s Team Foil crown at the European Fencing Championship in Novi Sad on the penultimate day of action. They had to fight back from behind against a strong Russian team to take the gold in the final seconds of the match.
Previously, the Italians had eased past Ukraine and Germany, both 45-26 and went into the final full of confidence. Russia, seeded second had an equally comfortable passage to the gold medal match, first beating Spain 45-21 and then France 45-31.
So France faced Germany in the bronze medal play-off and they pulled away from the beginning, leading 15-9 after three legs. The Germans slowed the match in the second third but still trailed 28-19 going into the final three legs. France continued to fence well and Anita Blaze, Astrid Guyart and Ysoara Thibus all played their parts as France strolled to the medal with a 45- 26 victory.
Russia started the gold medal match well against Italy, leading 15-10 after three legs and 30-25 after six. It was Anastasia Ivanova who was performing the best for the Russians and she went into the anchor leg against Alice Volpi with a 37-33 lead. That is when the match really came to life as Volpi chipped away at the Russian lead and edged 40-39 ahead in the dying seconds. Ivanova dug deep and levelled with less than 10 seconds on the clock but Volpi managed to sneak a closing counter-attack in to steal the gold medal right at the end.
Full results are available online, here.
The last day of the Championships will team events in Men’s Sabre and Women’s Epee.
