🇫🇷 RAFAEL SAVIN MOUNTS FURIOUS COMEBACK TO CLAIM EUROPEAN FOIL TITLE ON HOME STRIP

ANTONY, FRANCE — 18 JUNE 2026

France’s World number 23 Rafael Savin sent the home crowd into absolute raptures at the Éric Tabarly Sports Complex, capturing his first senior individual continental title on the final day of individual action at the 2026 European Fencing Championships. In a high-octane men's individual foil final, the French star came from a long way down to completely transform the match in his favour, producing a furious second period to defeat Poland’s Andrzej Rzadkowski 15–10.

The spectacular golden victory marks a career-best achievement for Savin, who adds a European title to the continental bronze medal he secured back in 2023.

While Rzadkowski maintained his blistering run of form to secure the silver medal, Individual Neutral Athlete Anton Borodachev and Italy’s Tommaso Martini took home the bronze medals.

Path to the Podium

Rafael Savin (World number 23) had to fight for every touch on his path to the final, opening his account with a narrow 15–13 win over Cyprus's Alex Tofalides before turning aside Great Britain's Harry Bird 15–11. He found his rhythm in the last 16, routinely pacing past AIN's world number 38 Egor Barannikov, the Istanbul World Cup silver medallist, 15–9. Following a tense 15–13 quarter-final battle against Hungary’s world number 14 Daniel Dosa, Savin booked his final berth by out-pointing Borodachev 15–11 before completing his golden comeback in the final.

Andrzej Rzadkowski (World number 30) proved that his recent breakthrough silver medal at the Shanghai Grand Prix was no fluke, navigating a brutal path to secure a masterful silver medal. After an opening bye and a comfortable 15–5 win over Croatia's Borna Spoljar, the Polish foilist pulled off a stunning 15–14 round-of-16 upset against Hungary's World number nine Gergó Szemes. He backed up that performance in the quarter-finals by knocking out Italy’s world number seven Filippo Macchi, the Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist and 2023 European Champion, 15–14, before blowing past Martini 15–7 in the semi-finals.

Anton Borodachev (World number 24) engineered a fantastic run under the Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN) banner to capture a fully deserved bronze medal, marking his best result of the season. Following a first-round bye, Borodachev dominated France's World number 60 Alexandre Sido 15–6 and survived a 15–14 cliffhanger against Great Britain's Jaimie Cook. His signature statement of the tournament came in the quarter-finals, where he executed a staggering 15–3 demolition of Italy’s world number 15 Tommaso Marini, the 2024 European Champion and 2023 World Champion, safely securing his spot on the podium.

Tommaso Martini (World number 17) capped off a highly consistent season by securing another major bronze medal, adding to the individual bronzes he captured at the Palma World Cup and Shanghai Grand Prix earlier in the campaign. The Italian opened with a 15–2 rout of the Netherlands' Michael Dijkstra before dismantling the Czech Republic’s World number four and Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallist Alexander Choupenitch 15–9. Martini then advanced past Great Britain's David Sosnov 15–8 and comfortably handled Hungary's Andor Mihalyi 15–10 in the quarter-finals, ensuring Italy a proud spot on the foil podium.

Full results are here.