Russia Continue to Dominate European Championships with Men’s Team Epee Title

The strong performance from Russia continued at fencing’s European Championships as they took the Men’s Team Epee title on the penultimate day of action in Novi Sad. They beat number seeds, France in the final.

Seeded second, Russia flew through Belgium 45-22 and Israel 45-36 before overcoming Italy in the semi-finals. That match remained close throughout as Pavel Sukhov went into the final leg against Marco Fichera with the Russians leading 25-28. A flurry of forty-two hits followed in the anchor leg with Sukhov seeing Russia over the line 45-40.

Meanwhile, at the top of the order, France struggled past Finland 45-41, before finding their feet in a strong 45-29 victory over Estonia. That form continued in the semi-final as they dominate Switzerland to win the match 45-27.

So Italy faced Switzerland for the bronze medal and a low-scoring match followed. Italy went into the final three legs leading 11-3 and it was Fichera again who saw the Italians over the line with a 45-29 victory.

In the final, Russian edged ahead of France 14-9 after the first three legs and stayed ahead to lead 35-27 going into the anchor match. Pavel Sukhov kept his cool against individual gold medallist, Yannick Borel, to see the Russians to a 45-34 victory.

Full results are available online, here.

The last day of the Championships will team events in Men’s Sabre and Women’s Epee.