France strike gold in women's epee team at fencing european championships

Today France claimed the women’s team epee gold medal at the European Championships in Novi Sad. They beat Poland in the final on day full of surprises.

France, ranked third, came through the bottom of the draw by beating Switzerland and Italy to make the semi-finals where they faced Estonia. France started well against the higher ranked Estonians and despite notable fightbacks from Erika Kirpu and Julia Beljajeva, Auriane Mallo saw the French over the line 45-36.

The big surprise came at the top of the draw where number one seeds Russia were underdone by the feisty Ukrainian team of Dzhoan Bezhura, Kseniya Pantelyeyeva and Olena Kryvytska 43-42 in the quarterfinals. Spent from their effort, Ukraine fell to Poland in the semi-final – the Poles having beaten Finland and Germany on the way.

So Ukraine faced Estonia for the bronze medal and kept the match close until the sixth leg when Beljajeva opened up a two hit lead for the Estonians. Kristina Kuusk and Beljajeva continued to open the gap before handing over to Irina Embrich, who secured the bronze medal with a 42-37 victory.

In the gold medal match France eeked out a one hit lead after three fights. They were only able to extend that to two hits at 36-34 going into the final leg where Auriane Mallo faced a buoyant Ewa Nelip. The Polish fencer battled so very hard and drew level at 40-40 with less than a minute to go. The match went to a priority minute and Mallo broke Polish hearts with a direct attack to take France to gold.

Full results are available online, here.