Still money: for the third time in a row, the French sabers have to settle for silver at the World Fencing Championships, beaten in Milan by Hungary (45-38) on Sunday.
In the same poster as in Cairo last year, the Blue, after taking control of the match, cracked at the end. World No.1 Sara Balzer suffered an 11-5 in her penultimate stint allowing the Hungarians to believe it and come back to a touch (30-29). Neither Caroline Quéroli (6-3) nor Manon Apithy-Brunet (5-1) managed to reverse the momentum afterwards.
This silver medal represents the sixth and final podium for the French team in Lombardy after the coronation of Marie-Florence Candassamy in epee, the silver medals in women’s foil as well as men’s epee and bronze Romain Cannone in epee and Enzo Lefort in foil.
A correct balance sheet one year from the Paris-2024 Olympic Games but two notches below the monster harvest of Cairo last year (8 medals including four titles) which had allowed the Blues to rank best nation.
