The future is underway in international fencing. And it's moving forward at a good pace. The discipline is gaining new territories, for its competitions as well as the nationality of its best athletes. The Cadet and Junior World Championships, held April 12-20 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, demonstrated this throughout nine days of competition at the King Saud University Sports Arena.
The place, first of all. The World Championships has never been held in Saudi Arabia, one of the new strongholds of the international sport.By setting the scene for the event in the heart of the capital, Riyadh, the International Fencing Federation (FIE) adds a line to the long list of countries having hosted at least one world championship, all age categories combined.
No coincidence: the 2024 Cadet and Junior World Championships coincided with the 50th anniversary of theaffiliation from Saudi Arabia to the FIE.
Next year, the global meeting of the best hopes of fencing will discover China. The competition is planned for the city of Wuxi, neighboring Shanghai, in the east of the country. China had already hosted the senior world championships in 2018, but has never yet organized the cadet and junior world championships.
Participation now. Massive. Not less than1.439 young fencers took part in the events, in epee, foil or sabre as individual and/or team. They represented 103 countries.
A habit: a training camp offered by the FIE brought together nineteen young fencers from nineteen countries in the world championships hall, during the week preceding the official competition. On the program: six days of training, with two three-hour sessions per day, in the three weapons of the program. The trainees then participated in the world championships. Three of them, from Niger, Puerto Rico and Greece, have entered the top 25 individual in their discipline. A special mention for the Greek Anna Kalliopi Kourousi, ranked 10th in the individual saber among the cadets.
Another ritual, in line with the FIE's development policy for the least well-equipped countries: the presence at the King Saud University Sports Arena in Riyadh, throughout the competition, of a stand dedicated to one of the programs beacons of the instance, “ Donate your fencing gear! ». Young fencers from eleven countries benefited during the 2024 Cadet and Junior World Championships. Saudi Arabia set an example, in its capacity as host country, by being the first donor.
The results, finally. When it came time to count, the United States took its place at the top of the medal rankings. With thirteen places on the podium, including four titles, they beat two other regularss of the top 3: Italy, second with 11 medals including two gold, and France, which also left the Saudi kingdom with two world titles, but a smaller number of medals (6).
The rest of the ranking says a lot about the growing universality of fencing, particularly in the youth categories. Not less from nineteen countries have won at least one medal, all metals combined, in one or other of the eighteen events of the competition. They come from four continents: Europe, Asia, Africa and America. Further proof that fencing today has highly talented athletes all over the world: thirteen nations left Riyadh, the day after the world championships, with at least one world title in their luggage. The future is on the move. It promises to be more global than ever.
