What's the joke: Russians have defended their place in the elite at the fencing Euro

Russian fencers were not left without medals at the European Championships in Anthony (France). The biggest success at this tournament for our national team was the team sabre gold. Yana Yegoryan, Anton Borodachev and Vladislav Penyushkina are also returning home with personal medals. The European Championship has shown that Russia continues its successful return to the international arena and has not lost its place in the global elite. But the younger generation still lacks the experience of stressful fights and self-control, and it is necessary to acquire them by the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The national team will continue to gain experience in Hong Kong, where the World Cup will be held from July 22 to July 30.

The sabre players showed character

Fencing turned out to be the most successful Russian sport at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo. The ROC team won 8 medals in 12 disciplines — 3 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze. Since then, there have been many worries about the neutral status and non-admission of our leading athletes, but now we can firmly say that after returning to the world stage, the Russians are in full view. The younger generation is growing up, and it is extremely important for them to make themselves known internationally. Unlike the world federation, the European federation has not yet allowed the Russian national team to fly the flag, so our team competed in Anthony in a neutral status. But she competed successfully.

This European Championship was originally supposed to be held in Estonia, but the hosts refused to allow Russian athletes into the country without preconditions and to guarantee the issuance of visas, so the tournament was moved to France. It is quite possible that this is the last start for our fencers in a neutral status. In July, Russians will compete with the flag of our country at the World Championships in Hong Kong.

The main positive emotions were presented to the fans by the women's sabre team. In the team final, the Russians met with the French hosts of the tournament. Our three of Yana Yegoryan, Alina Mikhailova and Alexandra Mikhailova (reserve — Anastasia Shorokhova) had a brilliant match — 45:39 in favor of the Russian national team, and the French women managed to lead only at the beginning of the fight. Yegoryan's final was surprisingly more difficult than the others — she lost two of her three fights, and in the middle of the match, with a crushing score of 35:21, she returned the intrigue, losing to Frenchwoman Sarah Nucha 5:11. But the team showed character, managing to bring the matter to victory.

Unfortunately, this gold was the first and only award of the highest standard for Russian fencers at the 2026 championship. But thanks to him, Russia took the third place in the medal standings (1-1-2). Italy and France are ahead of us, and Ukraine is behind, which also has one gold and three bronze medals.

Your attack: Russians went to the European Fencing Championships for medals

In France, our athletes will hold the final major international start before the return of the flag and anthem.

Two bronze medals and a missed final

In the individual sabre competition, the reigning world champion Yana Yegoryan stopped one step away from gold — she reached the final, where she lost to Spaniard Lucia Martin-Portugues in a dramatic match with a score of 13:15. At the same World Cup last year, a Spanish dentist by training, was eliminated in the 1/32 finals after meeting with Russian Alexandra Mikhailova (and she lost to Yegoryan in the very next round). For the 35-year-old Spaniard, this is her first major success on the international stage.

The last day, in which the women's sword and men's rapier competitions were held, was not very successful. Among the girls, our third-seeded teams did not even reach the semifinals, losing to rivals from Hungary in the 1/4 finals. Moreover, they led steadily throughout the fight, coming to the last of the nine fights with a score of 25:23. But then Esther Mukhari defeated Anastasia Rustamova — 16:8, so this time the Russian skewers won no medals.

The men remained fourth, but they were very close to the final. Of course, the Italians were considered favorites in the semifinals, but even here the AIN team led in the end thanks to the efforts of Vladislav Mylnikov. Right up to the last minutes: two-time world champion and silver medalist of the last Olympics Guillaume Bianchi entered them with a score of 36:39, and left with a victory of 45:43. Kirill Borodachev did not help out. And in the bronze match, the Russians lost to the Germans 39:45, and it was really disappointing.

But Kirill's twin brother Anton Borodachev reached the semifinals in a personal tournament, where he lost to the representative of France, but at least left with a medal. A nice bonus was the bronze medal of 22-year-old rapier player Vladislava Penyushkina, just two years ago she took bronze at the BRICS Games and, in fact, had no international experience at the highest level. And here Penyushkina entered the top four (the match for the third place was not held), losing well in the semifinals to the famous Olympic champion Arianna Errigo.

In general, the last tournament can be considered a plus for our team. Of course, there were opportunities to perform better, and in the golden days of our fencing, we easily won the European Championships in the overall standings. But we must understand that Russian athletes have spent a long time "behind the iron curtain," and the Anthony competition is, in fact, the second major international tournament of our new national team with the strongest squad after the 2025 World Cup. Russians need time to gain momentum, and it will show, as usual.