🇮🇹 ITALIAN FOILISTS RUTHLESSLY CRUSH HOSTS FRANCE TO COMPLETE TEAM EUROPEAN DOUBLE

ANTONY, FRANCE — 21 JUNE 2026

The Italian men's foil team mirrored the golden heroics of their female compatriots on the sixth and final day of the 2026 European Fencing Championships, sweeping to a magnificent continental crown. Competing at the Éric Tabarly Sports Complex in Antony, World number one Italy weathered a spectacular early storm before completely dismantling regional rivals France 45–22 in a highly dramatic gold medal showdown.

The masterclass victory seals a sensational team foil double for Italy at these Championships. It caps an outstanding seasonal campaign that already featured World Cup gold medals in Fukuoka, Cairo and Istanbul alongside a silver in Palma de Mallorca.

While France survived several highly competitive early rounds to secure silver, World number 11 Germany engineered a brilliant tournament run to capture a surprise bronze medal, leaving the Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) in fourth.

Path to the Podium

Team Italy, fielding an elite, superstar lineup of Guillaume Bianchi, Filippo Macchi, Tommaso Marini and Giulio Lombardi, received an initial first-round bye before opening their elimination account by routing Great Britain 45–18.

Their semi-final battle against AIN instantly turned into an absolute classic. The AIN lineup dictated the early distance beautifully to establish a 15–12 cushion after the first three legs but Italy fought back tenaciously across the middle relays to snatch a 30–26 advantage. The pendulum swung violently again in the seventh bout as Vladislav Mylnikov produced a blistering 9–2 clinic against Macchi to vault AIN back into a 35–32 lead. Trailing 39–36 in the final legs, Italian anchor Bianchi stepped onto the strip to face Kirill Borodachev. Exhibiting supreme technical composure, Bianchi staged a spectacular final-leg comeback to pull Italy ahead and seal a breathtaking 45–43 victory. This match will go down as one of the best in recent memory.

The gold medal match against France began as an absolute tactical rollercoaster. A buoyant Italian side stormed out of the blocks to build a commanding 15–7 lead after three legs. However, France's Maxime Pauty turned the entire arena upside down in the fourth leg, producing an astonishing 13–4 scoring explosion against Marini to push France ahead 20–19. A wounded Italian squad responded with total, unyielding ruthlessness. Italy completely shut down the French offense from that moment onward, allowing the hosts to score just two additional touches across the remainder of the match to storm away with the 45–22 victory.

Team France, represented by Anas Anane, Maxime Pauty, Alexandre Sido and newly crowned individual European Champion Rafael Savin, secured a proud continental silver to add to their Fukuoka and Istanbul World Cup silver medals. Following an opening bye, the host nation navigated past a tough Spanish squad 45–37 before putting together a clinical 45–30 semi-final win over Germany to book their final berth.

Team Germany, utilizing an inspired lineup of Alexander Kahl, Bastian Kappus, Niklas Diestelkamp and Luis Klein, celebrated a phenomenal milestone by securing a surprise return to the European podium. Having failed to reach the medal rounds on the World Cup circuit this year, the German underdogs hit peak form in Antony, defeating Croatia 45–37 before executing a brilliant 45–41 quarter-final upset over Hungary.

Following their semi-final setback against France, the Germans produced a magnificent late-bout comeback to defeat AIN 45–39 for the bronze medal. The AIN athletes had opened up a steady 15–13 lead after three legs and stretched that gap to 30–26 after six relays. The entire match shifted on its axis in the seventh leg when Kappus came off the bench for Germany, blasting Mylnikov 9–3 in a sensational performance to catapult the German team into a 35–33 lead. The re-energized German squad protected that hard-earned momentum beautifully to capture a historic bronze.

Team AIN, consisting of individual bronze medallist Anton Borodachev, Kirill Borodachev, Egor Barannikov and Vladislav Mylnikov, suffered deep frustration to finish in fourth place. The World number eight seeds had looked formidable early on with a 45–36 quarter-final victory over Poland but they ultimately ran out of gas after their exhausting, point-for-point semi-final epic against Italy.

Full results are here.