On the 10th, 11th and 12th of February, the most crowded women’s epee World Cup in history was held at the INEFC in Barcelona, with the participation of 296 fencers from 53 different nationalities.
In the individual event, the incombustible Brazilian Nathalie Moellhausen, who had just won the Doha Grand Prix two weeks ago, demonstrated her great state of form, and achieved her best result in Barcelona, with a victory in her fortnight participation in the Ciutat de Barcelona International Fencing Trophy. Moellhausen, who was World Champion in 2019, had to overcome other world-class fencers, such as Korean Young Mi Kang, Asian Champion in 2017, who after achieving two third places in Barcelona city, in this edition he climbed up to the second drawer of the Barcelona podium. And to two fencers who qualified in third place ex aequo, the current Olympic champion, the Chinese Yiwen Sun, and for the French Aurine Mallo, a world Top-10, who was on the podium for the second time prestigious competition.
In the team event, Korea’s victory in the final was indisputable, beating the Italian team 34 to 27, although along the way they defeated with great difficulty the combined teams of Israel, Hungary and Estonia, the latter by 45 to 44 in an exciting semi-final. Third place went to China, who bounced back from a 20-29 semifinal loss to Italy to beat Estonia 45-38.
Also of note is the brilliant performance of the Madrid fencer Sara Fernández, who achieved the most important result of her career, finishing in 12th place, and who also captained the Spanish team to 8th place in the team event, all a historical milestone. And the only Catalan fencer who participated was Daniela Pinyol from Sala d’Esgrima Amposta, who finished in 186th position.
Organizing sporting events of this magnitude is not at all simple, but a centenary organization like the Catalan Fencing Federation has once again demonstrated its organizational potential and has once again successfully overcome the challenge of having one of the biggest shows in our home of world fencing.