Italian foil fencer Giulia Amore battled through a tough field of 76 competitors to win the gold medal in the Junior Women’s Foil competition.
Amore, ranked 9th in the world, had a good start to the day, losing only one bout in the preliminary round. She thus claimed 9th seed and reached the semi-final by defeating Tellez (ESP) 15-11, Garyfallou (GRE) 15-10, Hoefler (GER) 15-9 and teammate Grandis (ITA) in the quarterfinal 15-11. Her opponent in the semifinal was AriadneTucker (ESP) and after a close bout Amore took the match 15-13 to secure a spot in the fight for gold.
From the other half of the bracket came Kristina Petrova (UKR), ranked 24th in the world, who put up a clean sheet in the pools to acquire 2nd seed entering the direct elimination. After a BYE in the round of 64, she fought through Eszster Wolf (HUN) 15-11, Matilde Calvanese (ITA) 15-14 and Amelie Tsang (GBR) to add an individual medal to her team bronze from Novi Sad 2022. In the semifinal she beat reigning champion Carolina Stutchbury with an impressive 15-4 scoreline to reach the grand final.
The grand final first looked to be an Italian celebration as Giulia Amore took a comfortable 8-2 lead after only two minutes of fencing. Petrova, however, had no plans to go down easy and after a massive seven (!) unanswered hits turned the match around to enter the first break with a 9-8 lead. The girls traded hits to reach the score of 13-13, but Amore then scored two quick hits to secure the Women’s Junior Foil title 15-13.
Junior Women's Foil
