World Fencing Championships

The World Fencing Championships is an annual competition in fencing organized by the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (FIE; International Fencing Federation in English). Contestants may participate in foil, épée, and sabre events.

World Fencing Championships
Status	active
Frequency	annual
Inaugurated	1921 (1921)
Most recent	2022
Next event	2023
Organised by	FIE
Website	www.fie.ch

History

The FIE first organized an international fencing championship in Paris, France in 1921. The competition in its early years was named the European Championships (Championnats d'Europe), and the initial participants were members of the fencing federations of the FIE. In 1921, the only event was men's épée individual. In 1922 and 1923, men's sabre individual was also held. In 1925, only men's sabre individual was held. Since 1926, men's individual events have been held in all three weapons: épée, foil, and sabre. In 1929, women's foil was added to the program as well as a men's foil team event. Men's épée and sabre teams were added in 1930 and women's foil team in 1932. Women's épée individual and team events were added in 1988, and women's sabre individual and team in 1999.^{[citation needed]}

After the 1936 Olympics, the government of Benito Mussolini in Italy offered national recognition and privileges to winners of Olympic or world titles, but not European titles.^[1] The Italian fencing federation requested that the FIE change the name of the European Championships to World Championships (Championnats du Monde). The FIE approved this request and gave retroactive World Championship status to the previous European Championships.^{[citation needed]}

Since 1921, the FIE championships have occurred annually except for an interruption forced by World War II from 1939 to 1946, and in some of the years when the Summer Olympics are held. The fencing competitions at the Summer Olympics have served as the World Championships of the year for the relevant events.^{[citation needed]} Since 1932, World Championships have been held during the Olympic years only for those events not being held during that year's Summer Olympics. For the years 1932, 1936, 1948, 1952, and 1956, World Championships were held only in Women's Foil Team since that event was not on the Olympic program during those years. After this event was added to the Olympic program beginning with the 1960 Olympics, the FIE stopped holding World Championships during the Olympic years until 1988 when women's épée individual and women's épée team events were added to the World Championship program, but the IOC declined to add these events to the Olympic program. A World Championship in these two events was again held in 1992 for the same reason. Finally, in 1996 the IOC added these two events to the Olympic program, and the FIE again stopped holding a World Championship in an Olympic year.^{[citation needed]}

When the FIE added women's sabre to the World Championships in 1999, the IOC refused to add these two events to the 2000 Olympic program and so the FIE held a World Championships in only women's sabre in 2000. For the 2004 Olympics, the IOC allowed women's sabre to be contested at the Olympics but only under the condition that the number of fencing events being contested (individual and team) remain at ten. The FIE reluctantly agreed to this condition, and has satisfied it by not contesting two of the team events at the Olympics but holding World Championships for them instead during those years. So World Championships have been held but Olympic events have not been held (2004–16) for the following events:

• 2004 – women's foil team, women's sabre team
• 2008 – men's foil team, women's épée team
• 2012 – men's épée team, women's sabre team
• 2016 – men's sabre team, women's foil team^{[citation needed]}

From 2020 Summer Olympics, all 12 fencing events were held, which means no World Championships are held on Olympic years.^[2]

Naming

These World Fencing Championships are usually referred to as Senior World Fencing Championships because the FIE also runs three other World Championships. Beginning in 1950, the FIE also sanctioned an annual competitions which it originally called the Junior World Criterium (Criterium Mondial des Jeunes). Entries were originally restricted to those 21 years of age or lower, but in 1960 the age limit was dropped to 20. In 1964, the name of the competition was officially changed to Junior World Championships, and world championship status was retroactively granted to the participants of the previous competitions.^{[citation needed]}

Beginning in 1987, the FIE began sanctioning an annual competition called the Cadet World Championships. Entries were restricted to those 17 years of age or lower. Originally the Junior and Cadet World Championships were held in different cities on different dates, but beginning in 1993 they've been called the Junior/Cadet World Championships and have been held at the same venue with all of the cadet events held first followed by all of the junior events.^{[citation needed]}

Beginning in 1997, the FIE began sanctioning an annual competition called the Veteran World Championships. Entries were restricted to those 40 years of age or older the first year, and 50 years or older in subsequent years.^{[citation needed]}

Hosts

Edition Year Host City Country Events International Fencing Championships (Unofficial) 1 1921 Paris   France 1 2 1922 Paris Ostend   France   Belgium 1 1 3 1923 The Hague   Netherlands 2 4 1925 Ostend   Belgium 1 5 1926 Budapest Ostend   Hungary   Belgium 2 1 6 1927 Vichy   France 3 7 1929 Naples   Italy 5 8 1930 Liège   Belgium 7 9 1931 Vienna   Austria 7 10 1932 Copenhagen   Denmark 1 11 1933 Budapest   Hungary 8 12 1934 Warsaw   Poland 8 13 1935 Lausanne   Switzerland 8 14 1936 San Remo   Italy 1 World Fencing Championships (Official) 1 1937 Paris   France 8 2 1938 Piešťany   Czechoslovakia 7 3 1947 Lisbon   Portugal 8 4 1948 The Hague   Netherlands 1 5 1949 Cairo   Egypt 7 6 1950 Monte Carlo   Monaco 8 7 1951 Stockholm   Sweden 8 8 1952 Copenhagen   Denmark 1 9 1953 Brussels   Belgium 8 10 1954 Luxembourg   Luxembourg 8 11 1955 Rome   Italy 8 12 1956 London   Great Britain 1 13 1957 Paris   France 8 14 1958 Philadelphia   United States 8 15 1959 Budapest   Hungary 8 16 1961 Turin   Italy 8 17 1962 Buenos Aires   Argentina 8 18 1963 Gdańsk   Poland 8 19 1965 Paris   France 8 20 1966 Moscow   Soviet Union 8 21 1967 Montreal   Canada 8 22 1969 Havana   Cuba 8 23 1970 Ankara   Turkey 8 24 1971 Vienna   Austria 8 25 1973 Gothenburg   Sweden 8 26 1974 Grenoble   France 8

Edition Year Host City Country Events 27 1975 Budapest   Hungary 8 28 1977 Buenos Aires   Argentina 8 29 1978 Hamburg   West Germany 8 30 1979 Melbourne   Australia 8 31 1981 Clermont-Ferrand   France 8 32 1982 Rome   Italy 8 33 1983 Vienna   Austria 8 34 1985 Barcelona   Spain 8 35 1986 Sofia   Bulgaria 8 36 1987 Lausanne   Switzerland 8 37 1988 Orléans   France 2 38 1989 Denver   United States 10 39 1990 Lyon   France 10 40 1991 Budapest   Hungary 10 41 1992 Havana   Cuba 2 42 1993 Essen   Germany 10 43 1994 Athens   Greece 10 44 1995 The Hague   Netherlands 10 45 1997 Cape Town   South Africa 10 46 1998 La Chaux-de-Fonds   Switzerland 10 47 1999 Seoul   South Korea 12 48 2000 Budapest   Hungary 2 49 2001 Nîmes   France 12 50 2002 Lisbon   Portugal 12 51 2003 Havana   Cuba 12 52 2004 New York City   United States 2 53 2005 Leipzig   Germany 12 54 2006 Turin   Italy 12 55 2007 Saint Petersburg   Russia 12 56 2008 Beijing   China 2 57 2009 Antalya   Turkey 12 58 2010 Paris   France 12 59 2011 Catania   Italy 12 60 2012 Kyiv   Ukraine 2 61 2013 Budapest   Hungary 12 62 2014 Kazan   Russia 12 63 2015 Moscow   Russia 12 64 2016 Rio de Janeiro   Brazil 2 65 2017 Leipzig   Germany 12 66 2018 Wuxi   China 12 67 2019 Budapest   Hungary 12 68 2022 Cairo   Egypt 12 69 2023 Milan^[3]   Italy 12

Hosting tally

Hosting nations 1921–2022

Times hosted	Host country
12	France
8	Hungary
7	Italy
5	Belgium
3	Austria,   Cuba,   Germany,   Netherlands,   Russia,   Switzerland,   United States
2	Argentina,   China,   Denmark,   Egypt,   Poland,   Portugal,   Sweden,   Turkey
1	Australia,   Brazil,   Bulgaria,   Canada,   Czechoslovakia,   Great Britain,   Greece,   Luxembourg,   Monaco,   South Africa,   South Korea,   Ukraine,   Spain,   Soviet Union,   West Germany

Medal table

This table has been last updated after the 2022 World Fencing Championships. This counts the medals from the World Championships since 1921, and does not include the results of the fencing competitions at the Summer Olympics.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Italy	118	108	135	361
2	France	96	95	96	287
3	Hungary	93	87	94	274
4	Soviet Union	92	54	47	193
5	Russia	56	32	36	124
6	West Germany	25	26	16	67
7	Germany	22	35	45	102
8	Poland	17	29	42	88
9	Romania	13	22	32	67
10	Ukraine	12	12	20	44
11	United States	11	15	16	42
12	South Korea	11	11	25	47
13	China	8	19	16	43
14	Sweden	7	15	21	43
15	Cuba	6	5	9	20
16	Estonia	5	6	6	17
17	Denmark	5	3	4	12
18	Austria	4	4	9	17
19	Great Britain	3	6	9	18
20	Netherlands	3	3	6	12
21	Switzerland	2	9	13	24
22	Belgium	2	4	11	17
23	Spain	2	2	7	11
24	Japan	2	2	6	10
25	Azerbaijan	2	2	4	8
26	Bulgaria	1	3	4	8
27	Czechoslovakia	1	3	1	5
28	Norway	1	0	1	2
29	Brazil	1	0	0	1
30	Venezuela	0	2	0	2
31	Tunisia	0	1	3	4
32	Belarus	0	1	2	3
	Canada	0	1	2	3
	East Germany	0	1	2	3
35	Portugal	0	1	0	1
36	Egypt	0	0	7	7
37	Hong Kong	0	0	3	3
38	Greece	0	0	2	2
39	CIS	0	0	1	1
	Colombia	0	0	1	1
	Finland	0	0	1	1
	Georgia	0	0	1	1
	Iran	0	0	1	1
Totals (43 entries)		621	619	757	1997

World champions

Épée

Year	Men's individual	Women's individual	Men's team	Women's team
1921	Lucien Gaudin
1922	Raoul Heide
1923	Wouter Brouwer
1926	Georges Tainturier
1927	Georges Buchard
1929	Philippe Cattiau
1930	Philippe Cattiau		Belgium
1931	Georges Buchard		Italy
1933	Georges Buchard		Italy
1934	Pál Dunay		France
1935	Hans Drakenberg		France
1937	Bernard Schmetz		Italy
1938	Michel Pécheux		France
1939–1946	did not take place due to World War II
1947	Édouard Artigas		France
1949	Dario Mangiarotti		Italy
1950	Mogens Lüchow		Italy
1951	Edoardo Mangiarotti		France
1953	József Sákovics		Italy
1954	Edoardo Mangiarotti		Italy
1955	Giorgio Anglesio		Italy
1957	Armand Mouyal		Italy
1958	Bill Hoskyns		Italy
1959	Bruno Habārovs		Hungary
1961	Jack Guittet		Soviet Union
1962	István Kausz		France
1963	Roland Losert		Poland
1965	Zoltán Nemere		France
1966	Aleksey Nikanchikov		France
1967	Aleksey Nikanchikov		Soviet Union
1969	Bohdan Andrzejewski		Soviet Union
1970	Aleksey Nikanchikov		Hungary
1971	Grigory Kriss		Hungary
1973	Rolf Edling		West Germany
1974	Rolf Edling		Sweden
1975	Alexander Pusch		Sweden
1977	Johan Harmenberg		Sweden
1978	Alexander Pusch		Hungary
1979	Philippe Riboud		Soviet Union
1981	Zoltán Székely		Soviet Union
1982	Jenő Pap		France
1983	Elmar Borrmann		France
1985	Philippe Boisse		West Germany
1986	Philippe Riboud		West Germany
1987	Volker Fischer		Soviet Union
1988	event not held	Brigitte Benon	event not held	West Germany
1989	Manuel Pereira	Anja Straub	Italy	Hungary
1990	Thomas Gerull	Taymi Chappé	Italy	West Germany
1991	Andrey Shuvalov	Mariann Horváth	Soviet Union	Hungary
1992	event not held	Mariann Horváth	event not held	Hungary
1993	Pavel Kolobkov	Oksana Jermakova	Italy	Hungary
1994	Pavel Kolobkov	Laura Chiesa	France	Spain
1995	Éric Srecki	Joanna Jakimiuk	Germany	Hungary
1997	Éric Srecki	Mirayda García	Cuba	Hungary
1998	Hugues Obry	Laura Flessel-Colovic	Hungary	France
1999	Arnd Schmitt	Laura Flessel-Colovic	France	Hungary
2001	Paolo Milanoli	Claudia Bokel	Hungary	Russia
2002	Pavel Kolobkov	Hyun Hee	France	Hungary
2003	Fabrice Jeannet	Natalia Konrad	Russia	Russia
2005	Pavel Kolobkov	Danuta Dmowska	France	France
2006	Wang Lei	Tímea Nagy	France	China
2007	Krisztián Kulcsár	Britta Heidemann	France	France
2008	events not held			France
2009	Anton Avdeyev	Lyubov Shutova	France	Italy
2010	Nikolai Novosjolov	Maureen Nisima	France	Romania
2011	Paolo Pizzo	Li Na	France	Romania
2012	events not held		United States	event not held
2013	Nikolai Novosjolov	Julia Beljajeva	Hungary	Russia
2014	Ulrich Robeiri	Rossella Fiamingo	France	Russia
2015	Géza Imre	Rossella Fiamingo	Ukraine	China
2017	Paolo Pizzo	Tatyana Gudkova	France	Estonia
2018	Yannick Borel	Mara Navarria	Switzerland	United States
2019	Gergely Siklósi	Nathalie Moellhausen	France	China
2022	Romain Cannone	Song Se-ra	France	South Korea

Foil

Year	Men's individual	Women's individual	Men's team	Women's team
1926	Giorgio Chiavacci
1927	Oreste Puliti
1929	Oreste Puliti	Helene Mayer	Italy
1930	Giulio Gaudini	Jenny Addams	Italy
1931	René Lemoine	Helene Mayer	Italy
1932	events not held			Denmark
1933	Gioacchino Guaragna	Gwendoline Neligan	Italy	Hungary
1934	Giulio Gaudini	Ilona Elek	Italy	Hungary
1935	André Gardère	Ilona Elek	Italy	Hungary
1936	events not held			Germany
1937	Gustavo Marzi	Helene Mayer	Italy	Hungary
1938	Gioacchino Guaragna	Marie Šedivá	Italy	event not held
1939–1946	did not take place due to World War II
1947	Christian d'Oriola	Ellen Müller-Preis	France	Denmark
1948	events not held			Denmark
1949	Christian d'Oriola	Ellen Müller-Preis	Italy	event not held
1950	Renzo Nostini	Ellen Müller-Preis &   Renée Garilhe	Italy	France
1951	Manlio Di Rosa	Ilona Elek	France	France
1952	events not held			Hungary
1953	Christian d'Oriola	Irene Camber	France	Hungary
1954	Christian d'Oriola	Karen Lachmann	Italy	Hungary
1955	József Gyuricza	Lídia Dömölky	Italy	Hungary
1956	events not held			Soviet Union
1957	Mihály Fülöp	Alexandra Zabelina	Hungary	Italy
1958	Giancarlo Bergamini	Valentina Rastvorova	France	Soviet Union
1959	Allan Jay	Emma Yefimova	Soviet Union	Hungary
1961	Ryszard Parulski	Heidi Schmid	Soviet Union	Soviet Union
1962	German Sveshnikov	Olga Szabó-Orbán	Soviet Union	Hungary
1963	Jean-Claude Magnan	Ildikó Rejtő	Soviet Union	Soviet Union
1965	Jean-Claude Magnan	Galina Gorokhova	Soviet Union	Soviet Union
1966	German Sveshnikov	Tatyana Samusenko	Soviet Union	Soviet Union
1967	Viktor Putyatin	Alexandra Zabelina	Romania	Hungary
1969	Friedrich Wessel	Elena Belova	Soviet Union	Romania
1970	Friedrich Wessel	Galina Gorokhova	Soviet Union	Soviet Union
1971	Vasyl Stankovych	Marie-Chantal Demaille	France	Soviet Union
1973	Christian Noël	Valentina Nikonova	Soviet Union	Hungary
1974	Alexandr Romankov	Ildikó Bóbis	Soviet Union	Soviet Union
1975	Christian Noël	Ecaterina Stahl	France	Soviet Union
1977	Alexandr Romankov	Valentina Sidorova	West Germany	Soviet Union
1978	Didier Flament	Valentina Sidorova	Poland	Soviet Union
1979	Alexandr Romankov	Cornelia Hanisch	Soviet Union	Soviet Union
1981	Vladimir Smirnov	Cornelia Hanisch	Soviet Union	Soviet Union
1982	Alexandr Romankov	Nailya Gilyazova	Soviet Union	Italy
1983	Alexandr Romankov	Dorina Vaccaroni	West Germany	Italy
1985	Mauro Numa	Cornelia Hanisch	Italy	West Germany
1986	Andrea Borella	Anja Fichtel	Italy	Soviet Union
1987	Mathias Gey	Elisabeta Tufan	West Germany	Hungary
1989	Alexander Koch	Olga Velichko	Soviet Union	West Germany
1990	Philippe Omnès	Anja Fichtel	Italy	Italy
1991	Ingo Weißenborn	Giovanna Trillini	Cuba	Italy
1993	Alexander Koch	Francesca Bortolozzi	Germany	Germany
1994	Rolando Tucker	Réka Szabó-Lăzar	Italy	Romania
1995	Dmitriy Shevchenko	Laura Badea	Cuba	Italy
1997	Sergei Golubitsky	Giovanna Trillini	France	Italy
1998	Sergei Golubitsky	Sabine Bau	Poland	Italy
1999	Sergei Golubitsky	Valentina Vezzali	France	Germany
2001	Salvatore Sanzo	Valentina Vezzali	France	Italy
2002	Simone Vanni	Svetlana Boyko	Germany	Russia
2003	Peter Joppich	Valentina Vezzali	Italy	Poland
2004	events not held			Italy
2005	Salvatore Sanzo	Valentina Vezzali	France	South Korea
2006	Peter Joppich	Margherita Granbassi	France	Russia
2007