Italy tops medal table

After nine days of gripping performances featuring over 1,000 of the world’s best fencers in epee, foil and sabre, the FIE Senior World Fencing Championships came to a thrilling conclusion last night at the AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong, China.

With the final two gold medals of the tournament up for grabs in women’s team foil and men’s team sabre, the competition ultimately boiled down to two battles between the top seeds in both weapons.

In the women’s team foil final, top-ranked Italy dominated second seeds the USA 45-29, while the favourites in the men’s team sabre showdown, the Republic of Korea, fell to the second-seeded France 45-31. It was the first team gold medal for the French men’s sabre team since 2006.

“We knew from the very beginning that if we didn’t give 200% of ourselves it would have been almost impossible to win against this team. And that’s what we did, with our hearts … We are very proud to fence this bout form the first to the last touch.”

The 2026 World Fencing Championships were defined by standout individual and team performances from a vast array of countries – the latest indication of the growing strength and diversity of fencing worldwide.

Of the 12 gold medals on offer in Hong Kong, nine were claimed by fencers from different nations, including Czechia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Russia, and Switzerland.

In total, athletes from 19 different nations and four continents took home medals.

One nation, however, proved to be a cut above. Team Italy led the medals table with 4 gold and 4 silver to comfortably outpace runners-up the Republic of Korea (1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze) and Hungary (1 gold and 2 bronze).

The Azzurri got off to a strong start in Hong Kong and never looked back, reaching the podium in each of the first three medal events, with Filippo Macchi (men’s foil), Giulia Rizzi (women’s epee) and Davide Di Veroli (men’s epee) all taking silver in their respective disciplines.

Martina Favaretto won the country’s first gold of the event in women’s individual sabre after a dominant 15-7 performance over compatriot Arianna Errigo in the final. This was followed by Italian team golds in women’s epee and women’s and men’s foil. [The full list of medallists can be found below.]

Asked what the secret to Italy’s success this year was, Italian Team Foil World Champion Anna Cristino said matter of factly:

“The only secret is training and believing and always fighting until the end.”

World Championship hardware wasn’t the only thing the athletes were gunning for in Hong Kong. Prior to the start of the tournament, the FIE announced that it was also offering medallists in all events and weapon categories gender-equal prize money totalling USD 1.02 million.

Complete list of medallists at the 2026 FIE Senior World Fencing Championships:

Men’s Individual Foil

                 •              Alexander Choupenitch (CZE, gold)

                 •              Filippo Macchi (ITA, silver)

                 •              Daniel Dosa (HUN, bronze)

                 •              Iimura Kazuki (JPN, bronze)

Women’s Individual Epee

                 •              Song Sera (KOR, gold)

                 •              Giulia Rizzi (ITA, silver)

                 •              Barbara Brych (POL, bronze)

                 •              Tang Junyao (CHN, bronze)

Men’s Individual Epee

                 •              Lucas Malcotti (SUI, gold)

                 •              Davide Di Veroli (ITA, silver)

                 •              Khalifah Alomairi (KSA, bronze)

                 •              Yamada Masaru (JPN, bronze)

Women’s Individual Sabre

                 •              Larissa Eifler (GER, gold)

                 •              Sara Balzer (FRA, silver)

                 •              Toscane Tori (FRA, bronze)

                 •              Sugar Katinka Battai (HUN, bronze)

Women’s Individual Foil

                 •              Martina Favaretto (ITA, gold)

                 •              Arianna Errigo (ITA, silver)

                 •              Alina Poloziuk (UKR, bronze)

                 •              Ueno Yuka (JPN, bronze)

Men’s Individual Sabre

                 •              Pavel Graudyn (RUS, gold)

                 •              Do Gyeongdong (KOR, silver)

                 •              Mohamed Amer (EGY, bronze)

                 •              Radu Nitu (ROU, bronze)

Women’s Team Epee

                 •              Italy (gold)

                 •              Estonia (silver)

                 •              Republic of Korea (bronze)

Men’s Team Foil

                 •              Italy (gold)

                 •              Hong Kong (silver)

                 •              USA (bronze)

Men’s Team Epee

                 •              Kazakhstan (gold)

                 •              Ukraine (silver)

                 •              Egypt (bronze)

Women’s Team Sabre

                 •              Hungary (gold)

                 •              People’s Republic of China (silver)

                 •              France (bronze)

Women’s Team Foil

                 •              Italy (gold)

                 •              USA (silver)

                 •              Japan (bronze)

Men’s Team Sabre

                 •              France (gold)

                 •              Republic of Korea (silver)

                 •              Romania (bronze)