Paris (AFP)
Enzo Lefort, Erwann Le Pechoux, Maxime Pauty and Julien Mertine were crowned European team champions on Thursday in Düsseldorf, bringing the French clan their seventh medal since the start of the competition.
The French beat the German hosts (45-26) in the final, having corrected the defending Russian Olympic champions in the semi-finals (45-29). They are doing an excellent job in the qualification race for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
The team's last gold medal for French foil-finalists dates back to 2017, when Jérémy Cadot was on the team in the place of Pauty, who is celebrating his first big league gold medal on the day. his 26th birthday.
This is the second continental title won by French fencers in Germany after gold Coraline Vitalis Wednesday at the sword.
In total, in addition to these two European titles, the Blues won two silver medals (Marie-Florence Candassamy on the sword and Manon Brunet on the saber) and three bronze (Lefort, team sabers and Ysaora Thibus in foil).
The results of these European championships, one year of the 2020 Olympics and in the qualifying phase for Tokyo, are already better than the previous edition in Novi Sad last year (six medals, two of each metal) .
There are two days of team competition, with the ladies 'and gentlemen's foil on Friday, and the ladies' sword and men's saber on Saturday.
? 2019 AFP