Worlds, gold to'Italy in men’s foil

Guillaume Bianchi, Filippo Macchi, Tommaso Marini and Alessio Foconi, led by CT Simone Vanni and his staff, have written history. Italy’s men’s foil is world champion, and it is the 25th rainbow gold medal in the specialty, from the first time, which dated back to the 1929 Naples edition, to the last before today, in 2022 in Cairo, when current Head of Delegation Daniele Garozzo was in place of Pippo Macchi (in his first title), in a team that for three/quarters was the same one that triumphed today at the Olympic Palace in Tbilisi.
Day five of the 2025 World Cup in Georgia thus rings the notes of the Mameli Anthem after a wonderful day for the Azzurri, who beat the USA 43-42 after an incredibly exciting final tinged with blue.
Finishing one step away from the podium was the women’s epee team (Rossella Fiamingo, Giulia Rizzi, Alberta Santuccio and Sara Maria Kowalczyk), which finished in fourth place.

Italy’s foil fencers are World champions
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The quartet composed of Guillaume Bianchi, Filippo Macchi, Tommaso Marini, and Alessio Foconi, after yesterday’s victorious debut against Croatia (45-30), today overcame Singapore 45-20 in the round of 16 and, with the same grit, also dominated the quarterfinal against Poland, defeated by a score of 45-36. In the semifinals, another show of strength for CT Simone Vanni’s boys, who beat France 45-30, in the same challenge that a month ago had earned them gold at the European Championship in Genoa and today handed Italy a pass to the final against the United States. It was an up-and-down match in the final with great emotions that saw the Azzurri celebrate 43-42 against the USA and give themselves the title of world champions, just over a month after the European gold in Genoa.

The words of the champions
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Great joy for the Azzurri: “We have to announce one thing: We are World Champions,” the quartet shout.
Captain Alessio Foconi: “We are back World Champions, the last one in Cairo 2022. We were very good at holding up throughout the match. We trust each other and that means teamwork. A beautiful thing. Guillaume knew Massialas’ strengths well and made the most of them in the last fraction. Beautiful like that.”
So Bianchi after the last hit: “I am very happy with how I approached this final. I’m slowly realizing what happened, I’m overjoyed. With an opponent I’m against historically, in the last fraction, it was difficult to close well but I’m happy with how I solved the difficulties and the weather helped me. I am proud to have defended the lead and celebrate this gold with my teammates.”
Tommaso Marini’s joy: “I am very very happy because winning a World Championship is always nice and winning with people you love makes it even more special. We have shown that we are a team, we are always very united and compact even in difficult moments we are tough and this is our strongest point.”
First rainbow gold for Filippo Macchi: “I am happy because it was a crazy season. We won all the races except one Cup event. We finish as number 1 in the world ranking, World and European Champions, the level expressed today shows us that these are our stages. We won so our grade is 10.”
CT Simone Vanni’s excitement after his first victory in a World Championships as Olympic foil coach: “I am really very happy because this is our real value and we had to prove it. We did it great with a difficult final to win with ups and downs. Being remounted is always more difficult but all four of them brought out great character.”

Fourth place for the women’s epee
The Italian women’s epee team, led by Technical Commissioner Dario Chiadò, finished fourth instead, defeated in the final for bronze by Korea.
Rossella Fiamingo, Giulia Rizzi, Alberta Santuccio and Sara Maria Kowalczyk had made their debut yesterday with a clear 45-11 win over the Netherlands and today, in a tricky but always dominated round of 16, they overcame Hong Kong 38-23. Even more authoritative was the quarterfinal performance against Estonia, beaten 42-27 by a perfect Italy. The stop came in the semifinals, in a rematch of the Paris 2024 Olympic final, against France, which this time won 45-32. However, the Azzurri, despite fighting point to point, came out defeated with a result of 37-31 from the challenge for third place against Korea, thus finishing in fourth place.

The other specialties
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Also on Georgian Saturday, the preliminaries of the last two individual competitions, those of men’s epee and women’s saber, were also staged, in which it was determined that Italy would be competing tomorrow with full ranks, with eight bearers in all.
Among the épadists, Davide Di Veroli and Andrea Santarelli were already admitted by right of ranking to the main draw, and already in today’s first round, with a double en plein of victories in the group stage, Matteo Galassi and Valerio Cuomo were also able to join them. For both blues on the platform today, six victories in as many assaults earned them qualification for tomorrow’s climax day.
Also advancing en bloc to the main draw were the four blue saberists. Michela Battiston was qualified by right; Eloisa Passaro and Mariella Viale, thanks to an excellent group stage, joined her immediately, while Chiara Mormile needed the victory of a preliminary round, against Uzbek Dayibekova, to complete the Italian platoon that will be on the platform tomorrow.
Team competitions in men’s saber and women’s foil will also begin tomorrow.
The saber team will make its debut in the round of 16: Luca Curatoli, Michele Gallo, Matteo Neri, and Pietro Torre will take on Thailand.
Passes by right, on the other hand, for the fencers’ lineup: the team composed of Arianna Errigo, Martina Favaretto, Anna Cristino, and Alice Volpi, being the number 1 seed, will skip the first round and will not be on the platform tomorrow, waiting directly in the round of 16 on Monday against the winner of Romania-Austria.

MALE TEAM FIELD RESULTS

Classification: 1. ITALY (Guillaume Bianchi, Alessio Foconi, Filippo Macchi, Tommaso Marini), 2. USA, 3. Hungary, 4. France.

Final
ITALY b. United States 43-42

Semifinals
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ITALY b. France 45-30
United States b. Hungary 45-39

Quarterfinals
ITALY b. Poland 45-36

Eighth finals
ITALY b. Singapore 45-20

Table of 32
ITALY b. Croatia 45-30

FEMALE SWORD TEAM RESULTS

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Ranking: 1. France, 2. Ain, 3. Korea, 4. ITALY (Rossella Fiamingo, Sara Maria Kowalczyk, Giulia Rizzi, Alberta Santuccio).

Final
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France b. Ain 41-32

Bronze Final
Korea b. ITALY 37-31

Semifinals
France b. ITALY 45-32
Ain b. Korea 45-35

Quarterfinals
ITALY b. Estonia 42-27

Eighth finals
ITALY b. Hong Kong 38-23

Table of 32
ITALY – Netherlands 45-11

MALE INDIVIDUAL SWIMWEAR PRELIMINARY RESULTS

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Table of 64 (tomorrow)
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Cuomo (ITA) – Matsumoto (Jpn)
Di Veroli (ITA) – Favre (Sui)
Galassi (ITA) – Rubes (Cze)
Santarelli (ITA) – Tulen (Ned)

Group stage
Matteo Galassi: six wins, no losses (qualified after the group stages)
Valerio Cuomo: six wins, no losses (qualified after the groups)

FEMALE INDIVIDUAL LEADERSHIP PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Table of 64 (tomorrow)
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Passaro (ITA) – Karimova (Aze)
Viale (ITA) – Sullivan (Usa)
Mormile (ITA) – Balzer (Fra)
Battiston (ITA) – Hernandez (Esp)

Preliminary draw
Mormile (ITA) b. Dayibekova (Uzb) 15-12

Group stage
Eloisa Passaro: five wins, no losses (qualified after the rounds)
Mariella Viale: five wins, one loss (qualified after the rounds)
Chiara Mormile: three wins, three losses