Coming out of the shadow of Velikaya and Pozdnyakova: Nikitina helped Russian saber fencers win the team tournament at the Games in Tokyo

The day of the drawing of medals in the women's saber team tournament was the most long-awaited for the Russian team at the Tokyo Olympics.

This type of fencing stands out even in comparison with other disciplines, from which fans traditionally expect victories.

Like five years ago, Russian saber fencers have reached the maximum to be considered the only contenders for gold.

They won the last world championship and played the final of the personal tournament among themselves already at the Games themselves.

Sofia Pozdnyakova and Sofya Velikaya, the team competition provided a chance to become two-time Olympic champions, and Olga Nikitina and their possible replacement Svetlana Sheveleva - to win their first title.

The Russians received the first seeding number and were supposed to start their performance in the tournament with a meeting with the team, which early in the morning played out a ticket to the quarterfinals.

The lucky ticket was drawn by the Japanese national team - just the day before, the hosts of the Olympics started in men's epee competitions and, as a result, sensationally won them.

But in the women's saber, such a scenario was out of the question. Already in the first fight, the Great beat Noriku Tamura with a score of 5: 1. The first appearance of Pozdnyakova in the status of champion did not go so smoothly, but still she did not miss more than four punches from Misaki Emura and ended the round in her favor. Nikitina had the hardest fight - winning 3: 1 against Sikhomi Fukushima, the Russian woman missed four attacks in a row. She got to 15 points first, but the advantage in the team dispute was reduced to three injections.

The Russians won the second round, but it didn't work out easily and simply. Pozdnyakova brought the fight with Tamura to a draw, and her teammates defeated the Japanese women in their duels with a minimal advantage. In the saber, where there is no time limit and it is much easier to recoup than in the foil and epee, this left the mistresses a chance for salvation. But Pozdnyakova, with her third appearance on the platform, removed all questions about the winner, inflicting five injections in a row, after which the outcome of the bout was beyond doubt. The final score is 45:34.

In the semifinals, the Russian national team met with South Korea, while the most dangerous rivals from France and Italy were sorting out the relationship in a parallel match. The current Olympic champions had only one hitch when Pozdnyakova entered the first fight. She missed six consecutive punches from Yoon Ji Soo. Fortunately, this round did not end, and the Russian woman responded with five of her attacks. More Korean fencers did not show serious resistance, which resulted in a victory with a difference of 19 punches!

The battle for the second ticket to the final turned out to be much more interesting. The French national team with bronze medalist Manon Brunet in the squad also did not experience any particular problems with the Italians and even led with a score of 30:14 after six rounds. But then Mikela Battiston came on as a substitute, and did a real feat. In a fight with Charlotte Lembach, she struck 18 blows, that is, even more than is possible in a personal duel. The backlog of the Italians was reduced to three points, but the French women still did not miss theirs. Just like at the last world championship, they came out to challenge the gold with the Russians.

The final immediately began with a heated confrontation between Nikitina and Brunet.

In the individual tournament, the French woman defeated the Russian woman with a crushing score of 15: 5 and did not let her into the semifinals.

The new meeting, too, at first took place under the dictation of the rival, who inflicted three unanswered injections.

But Nikitina was not going to step on the same rake.

She responded with five smashing attacks and still took a little revenge from Brunet.

Pozdnyakova was the next to fence against Cecilia Berder, and again the first fight was not the best for her.

She immediately lost her video replay, and then, when her blow was supposed to end the round, the judges, at the insistence of the opponent, reconsidered the episode and gave a point to the Frenchwoman.

After that, only memories remained of the comfortable advantage - 10: 9.

The Great started even worse in the final.

She made only two effective actions against Charlotte Lembach.

Pozdnyakova also played against Brunet, as a result of which there was a gap between the French women - 20:14.

But the tension hanging in the air did not break Nikitin.

She was as much a nightmare for Lembach as Battiston was.

The Russian woman won the match with a score of 11: 3 and turned the tide of the whole match.

Now the initiative belonged to the current world champions.

The French team no longer released Lembach.

Sarah Balser came out to fight Pozdnyakova in the seventh round, but she could not become the X factor and save her friends.

The Russian fencer with great difficulty, but still won her fight and brought the advantage to seven points.

Great, too, did not allow Brunet to influence the course of the final.

It fell to Nikitina to finish the tournament in a fight with Burder. She quickly reached the point when she was separated from the gold by only one injection, and her opponent had to make seven. The Frenchwoman played three, but the feat of the Brazilian tennis players in the match between Elena Vesnina and Veronica Kudermetova did not repeat. The Russian national team won 45:41 and won gold in the women's team saber for the second time in a row. Sophia Velikaya won her fifth Olympic medal and became only the eighth fencer in history who succeeded.