🇪🇸 LUCIA MARTIN-PORTUGUES DEFIES ODDS TO CONQUER EUROPEAN SABRE ELITE

ANTONY, FRANCE — 16 JUNE 2026

Spain’s world number 12 Lucia Martin-Portugues authored a historic masterpiece of tactical aggression at the Éric Tabarly Sports Complex, capturing her maiden senior continental title on the opening day of the 2026 European Fencing Championships. In a star-studded women's individual sabre field, the Spaniard capped off an emphatic tournament run by dethroning World number one and reigning World Champion Yana Egorian 15–13 in an absolute grandstand gold medal final.

The stunning championship victory marks the absolute pinnacle of Martin-Portugues’ international career, complementing the individual bronze medal she secured at the Tunis Grand Prix earlier this season.

Egorian took home the silver medal under the AIN banner, while Ukraine’s Alina Komashchuk and home favourite Toscane Tori of France claimed the bronze positions.

Path to the Podium

Lucia Martin-Portugues (World number 12) set an explosive, uncompromising rhythm from her opening bout, routing Azerbaijan's Valeria Huseynova 15–7 and AIN's Aleksandra Mikhailova 15–6. She maintained her ironclad focus in the later rounds, dismantling Ukraine’s Anna Bondar 15–10 before showing immense composure to pull past Hungary’s Luca Szucs 15–12 in the quarter-finals. Martin-Portugues then flipped into absolute survival mode for the medal rounds, dominating Ukraine's Komashchuk 15–7 in the semi-finals before out-dueling Egorian in the final to seal a historic gold.

Yana Egorian (World number 1) will head to the upcoming World Championships as a red-hot favorite despite her narrow defeat in the final. After an opening-round bye, the Rio 2016 Olympic Champion looked thoroughly unstoppable, rolling past Germany's Lea Funke 15–6 and matching that scoreline to defeat world number 9 Alina Mikhailova. Egorian's definitive test came in the quarter-finals, where she edged out Bulgaria’s world number 2 Yoana Ilieva 15–14 in a tactical thriller, before silencing the home crowd by beating France’s Tori 15–9 in the semi-finals. The silver adds to her spectacular seasonal collection, which already includes gold at the Incheon Grand Prix, silver medals in Salt Lake City and Lima, and bronze in Athens.

Alina Komashchuk (World number 7) delivered a confident, highly physical performance to secure her second consecutive individual European Championship medal. The Ukrainian Olympic team champion enjoyed a round-of-64 bye before locking down three identical 15–11 masterclasses against Poland’s Zuzanna Cieslar, Greece’s world number 21 Despina Georgiadou, and France's world number three and defending European Champion Sarah Noutcha. Though her golden ambitions were checked by a clinical Martin-Portugues in the semi-finals, her bronze safely opened Ukraine's medal tally in Antony.

Toscane Tori (World number 17) sent the partisan French crowd into absolute raptures, fighting her way to a historic bronze medal, her first senior individual international podium of the season. Tori opened her account with a 15–10 win over Germany’s Marie Stemper before pulling off one of the tournament's definitive shockwaves, dumping out her world number 10 teammate and Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist Sara Balzer 15–8. Tori backed up the giant-killing by out-pointing Italy’s Carlotta Spica 15–12 and hammering Hungary’s 2025 continental bronze medallist Sugár Katinka Battai 15–7 in the quarter-finals, cementing a proud hometown milestone.

Full results are here.