The Blues, who had held the title since 2019 after the cancellation of the following two Worlds because of the Covid, beat their great Italian rivals 45 to 42 in the final to offer the tricolor delegation their sixth medal of the Egyptian week, their fourth in gold.

Since the Tokyo Olympics last summer, French epee fencers have raided the medals at major events with an individual Olympic title for Cannone, the European title for Yannick Borel and a team bronze medal at the European Championships last month, before Cairo's golden double.

To reach the final, Hugues Obry's shooters, who returned to France after a remarkable stint at the head of the Chinese team, beat the Swiss 45 to 42 in the quarter-finals, then the Hungarians 45 to 37 in the semi-finals. final.

In the final, it was not until the penultimate stint, that of Alexandre Bardenet who sickened Federico Vismara 5 to 2, that the Blues took a definitive advantage against the Italians.

Paris-2024 objective

"We are world team champions, it's my second title in a row since in 2019 we also won with Alexandre Bardenet, Daniel Jerent and Ronan Gustin. This time, it's with Romain Cannone and Alex Fava, that shows that the France team, despite the changes, remains at the level. We are still able to play for the title", welcomed Yannick Borel.

The French Ronan Gustin, Yannick Borel, Daniel Jerent and Alexandre Bardenet pose with their gold medals after winning the World Cup final against Ukraine on July 22, 2019 in Budapest Peter Kohalmi AFP / Archives

"After the disappointment of Tokyo (elimination of the team event in the quarter-finals, editor's note), it's good for the whole collective. The objective is to also shine in two years in Paris. We are very happy with this result, and that will give us a lot of energy to go as far as possible until the Games in two years, but also next year in Italy for the World Championships", he added.

The French women's foil team won the bronze medal by defeating the Japanese in the match for 3rd place 40 to 34.

Les Bleues were trailing 28-26 before a dazzling last stint from Pauline Ranvier (7-1) who outclassed her Japanese opponent.

The joy of the French foil fencer Pauline Ranvier, after beating the Italian Arianna Errigo, in the semi-final of the World Fencing Championships, July 19, 2019 in Budapest Peter KOHALMI AFP / Archives

The French, with Ysaora Thibus, crowned individual world champion this week, lost 45 to 35 in the semi-finals against the Americans.

And the tricolor harvest is not yet over: Saturday, for the last day of competition, the Blues of foil face the Canadians in the quarter-finals and the sabers can reach the last four by beating Azerbaijan.

© 2022 AFP