🇮🇹 UNBEATEN ITALY EXTEND GOLDEN STREAK IN CAIRO AFTER COMPOSING LEGENDARY FINAL
Updated: Aug 5
CAIRO, EGYPT — 19 APRIL 2026
The joint World number 1 Italy Women’s Foil team kept their perfect season intact, capturing their fourth consecutive World Cup gold medal of the campaign. The unstoppable quartet—featuring individual champion Martina Favaretto, individual silver medallist Martina Batini, Arianna Errigo, and Anna Cristino—staved off an incredibly fierce challenge from rivals France to secure a spectacular 45–40 victory in the final.
With this latest triumph at the Cairo International Stadium complex, the Italians remain completely undefeated in team World Cup events this season.
France earned their second consecutive silver medal following their second-place finish in Hong Kong, while the USA rallied to capture the bronze. Japan fought hard but ultimately missed out on a podium spot to finish fourth.
Path to the Podium
Italy (World number 1) earned a clean route through the early rounds before running into an incredibly stubborn tactical test against world number 4 Japan in the semi-finals. The Japanese squad built a slender 12–11 lead after three bouts, which Italy erased in the middle legs to lead 24–22. However, a stunning 9–3 surge from Japan's Takeyama Yuzuha in the seventh bout turned the match on its head, putting Japan up 31–27. Facing immense pressure, Batini entered the strip for the penultimate leg and produced a critical 9–4 turnaround to hand Italy a 36–35 advantage. Cristino then showed nerves of steel in the final bout to seal a tight 41–38 win.
The final against France was an absolute tactical roller coaster. Italy substituted legendary fencer Errigo into the starting lineup, but she fell 5–2 to Anita Blaze in the opening leg. Cristino and Favaretto roared back to seize a 15–11 lead after three legs. The drama intensified when Batini replaced Errigo in the fourth bout, only for France’s Éva Lacheray to launch a 9–3 counter-attack, restoring a French lead at 20–18. Cristino once again stepped up in leg six to put Italy back ahead 28–26. As the see-saw battle reached its climax, Ysaora Thibus stole the lead back for France, making it 40–39 entering the final anchor leg. Facing immense pressure, Cristino put on a historic display, firing off six unanswered hits to close out the match 45–40.
The USA (joint World number 1) secured their fourth consecutive podium appearance of the season by capturing the bronze medal. After losing a razor-thin 41–40 semi-final heartbreaker to France—where a late rally by the Americans just ran out of time—the lineup of Lauren Scruggs, Lee Kiefer, Katerina Lung, and Carolina Stutchbury regrouped for the play-off. They raced out to a massive 30–16 lead against Japan after six fights. Though the Japanese mounted a fierce, dramatic comeback in the final three frames, Scruggs locked down the strip to seal a 42–38 victory.
France (World number 3) showcased phenomenal depth en route to their silver medal. The squad—Anita Blaze, Éva Lacheray, Morgane Patru, and Ysaora Thibus—engineered a phenomenal tactical squeeze in the semi-finals against the USA. After building an initial 13–8 advantage, France fell behind 26–25 in the middle legs. They clawed their way back to a 33–32 lead, and a gritty 8–8 anchor leg from Thibus against Scruggs was enough to see them edge through to the final by a single point.
