🇮🇹 SANTUCCIO SEALS OVERTIME THRILLER TO CLAIM MEDELLIN GRAND PRIX TITLE
Updated: Aug 6
MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA — 10 MAY 2026
World number 3 Alberta Santuccio (ITA) captured her highly anticipated first individual title of the season, winning a heart-stopping overtime thriller at the third and final Épée Grand Prix of the campaign in Medellin. The 2023 World Championship silver medallist and reigning European bronze medallist clinched the gold medal with a dramatic 13–12 victory over Hungary's Eszter Muhari at the Coliseo Iván de Bedout.
The golden finish marks a magnificent fourth podium of the 2025–26 circuit for Santuccio, adding to her silver medals from the Fujairah and Wuxi World Cups and her bronze from Astana.
Muhari (HUN), the world number 4 and Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medallist, earned the silver medal to cap off her own exceptional four-podium campaign. The bronze medals were shared by former World Champion Marie-Florence Candassamy (FRA) and world number 1 Katrina Lehis (EST).
Path to the Podium
Alberta Santuccio (World number 3) relied on superb blade actions and masterclass tactical patience all day. After navigating past Hungary’s Lili Büki and Korea’s Lee Hyein, she locked down a disciplined 13–9 win over Germany's Alexandra Ehler. In the quarter-finals, Santuccio defeated world number 6 Alexandra Louis-Marie (FRA) 15–10, before out-pointing Candassamy 11–9 in a highly technical semi-final.
The gold medal match was an instant classic. Muhari appeared firmly in control, building a 9–6 advantage heading into the final period. However, Santuccio reeled off three unanswered touches to level the score and shift the momentum. After a grueling regulation period ended tied at 12–12, Santuccio drew out an attack in overtime, executing a flawless parry-riposte to secure the title.
Eszter Muhari (World number 4) put together a fiercely dominant run to the final, conceding single-digit touches in her later knockout rounds against African Champion Alexandra Ndolo (KEN) and France's Aliya Luty. In the semi-finals, she faced world number 1 Katrina Lehis—avenging her narrow loss from last month’s Grand Prix final in Budapest—by producing a masterful 15–11 performance to eliminate the Estonian.
Marie-Florence Candassamy (World number 8) secured her fourth individual podium of a remarkable season, matching her silver from Vancouver, gold from Fujairah, and bronze from Doha. The 2023 World Champion showed great resilience in the quarter-finals, edging out the USA's Tierna Oxenreider 12–11 in a tactical nail-biter before pushing Santuccio to the limit in the final four.
Katrina Lehis (World number 1) continued her incredibly rich vein of form to lock down her third consecutive podium appearance. The Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallist breezed through the early table, which included a dominant 15–9 round of 16 victory over Ukraine's rising talent Anna Maksymenko, before her title charge was halted by Muhari.
