Giulia Rizzi, Alberta Santuccio and Rossella Fiamingo rewrite history
Italy women’s epee signed an unprecedented result in the World Cup stage in Wuxi, China, monopolizing the podium with a gold, a silver and a bronze. Giulia Rizzi, Alberta Santuccio and Rossella Fiamingo rewrote, in that order, the history of the specialty, with only China’s Junyao Tang sharing the third step. The triumph came, by the way, to coincide with the first official day of competition at the Olympic Games in Milan Cortina: for Federscherma “a sign of destiny” for a group that continues to shine after the Paris 2024 Olympic gold medal.
Giulia Rizzi claimed victory at the end of a flawless run, overcoming Zhang, Abdul Rahman and Kardos before beating Louis Marie in the quarters and facing two Italian derbies in the final stages. First, she eliminated Rossella Fiamingo in the semifinals, then overcame Alberta Santuccio in the finals, thus clinching her fifth World Cup success. Santuccio, for her part, put her name on a valuable silver medal after beating Li, Yang, Kowalczyk, and Hatz, before surrendering only to her teammate.
Silver.
Bronze instead for Rossella Fiamingo, protagonist of a solid competition: the Sicilian eliminated Lee, Buki and Maksymenko, then overcame Kuty in the quarters before stopping in the semifinals against Rizzi. For her it is the’eleventh career podium finish on the circuit. The strength of the Italian group also emerged from the placings: Kowalczyk finished 10th, Marzani 13th, Isola 14th, Paulis and Bozza in the top 30. A day that confirms the depth and competitiveness of Italian epee at the world level.
“An unforgettable competition, which makes me and the whole staff proud of the work that is being carried out – said technical commissioner Dario Chiadò -I am very happy for this great result, but also for the overall performance: eight athletes in the top thirty-two and six in the Top 16, even with some regrets for placings that could have been even more exciting”.
“This result testifies to an excellent state of health for the whole group– he added -. The Olympians confirmed themselves as extraordinary champions, but the team as a whole gave a really important proof of competitiveness”. Satisfied also the federal president, Luigi Mazzone: “We are proud of our female swordsmen, they and all the staff are to be congratulated for having achieved something that will remain in the annals of Italian fencing”.
