🇰🇷 SONG SERA CLAIMS SECOND WORLD TITLE IN HIGH-STAKES HONG KONG FINALE
HONG KONG — 25 JULY 2026
Korea’s World number four Song Sera cemented her status among the modern icons of women’s epee on the fourth day of the 2026 World Championships, capturing her second career individual world crown. Competing at AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong, the 2022 World Champion navigated a tense tactical thriller against Italy's Giulia Rizzi, emerging victorious with a 9–8 scoreline in a high-stakes priority minute.
The global triumph places Song in elite company as she becomes just the fourth women’s epeeist in fencing history to capture the individual World Championship title twice.
While Rizzi took home a deserving silver medal to build on her double World Cup victories in Vancouver and Wuxi earlier in the season, Poland's Barbara Brych and China's Tang Junyao earned the individual bronze medals.
Path to the Podium
Song Sera (World number four) put together a masterful, tactical campaign through the direct elimination bracket to reclaim her world title. She launched her day with a 15–12 win over Romania's Alexandra Constantin before delivering back-to-back scoring clinics to dismantle Japan's Kishimoto 15–4 and Germany's Mueller 15–7. Song secured her place on the podium by defeating Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist Auriane Mallo-Breton of France 11–7 in a cagey quarter-final. She then out-pointed China's Tang Junyao 15–10 in the semi-finals before demonstrating supreme composure to score the winning hit in priority against Rizzi.
Giulia Rizzi (World number eight) entered the competition in red-hot form following individual World Cup victories in Vancouver and Wuxi, surviving several tough tests to reach the World final. After surviving a heart-stopping 15–14 opener against India's Lohan, Rizzi defeated Switzerland's Favre 15–11 and edged China's Yu Sihan 13–12. She asserted her authority in the quarter-finals by routing her World number two international teammate Alberta Santuccio 15–7, then stormed into the gold medal bout with a dominant 15–6 semi-final victory over Poland's Brych.
Barbara Brych (World number 78) enjoyed the finest day of her career, putting together a sensational series of upsets to secure an historic World bronze medal. After an opening 15–9 victory over Austria's Elmer, the Polish outsider stunned World number three Eszter Muhari of Hungary 15–12. Brych maintained her momentum by dispatching Japan's Terayama Tamaki 15–8 in the round of 16 and locked down her maiden World podium spot with a dramatic 14–13 quarter-final win over World number six Hadley Husisian of the United States.
Tang Junyao (World number 27) capped an extraordinary breakthrough season by converting her Wuxi World Cup bronze medal into a World Championship bronze, continuing her rapid rise up the global rankings. Tang opened with a comfortable 15–7 win over Algeria's Charline Boukhelifa before turning aside home favorite Wu of Hong Kong 15–11. She demonstrated tremendous clutch capability in the middle rounds, earning back-to-back 15–14 victories over Italy's Gaia Caforio and Russia's Rustamova to book her semi-final berth against Song.
Full results are here.
