Major upsets in the elimination rounds set the stage for an action-packed conclusion to the women’s foil and men’s epee individual competitions at the Paris Olympics.

In women's foil, American Lee Kiefer successfully defended her Olympic title.

Her opponent in the gold medal match? Fellow American Lauren Scruggs, who reached the final after a major upset against world No. 1 Arianna Errigo of Italy during the elimination rounds.

Kiefer and Scruggs made history with Canadian bronze medalist Eleanor Harvey, forming the first non-European podium in this event at the Olympics.

Koki Kano became the first Olympic champion for Japan in men's individual epee.

The final saw Scruggs and Kiefer become the first two Americans to compete against each other in a women’s foil gold medal match. Kiefer had a slow start, allowing Scruggs to score a few touches, but Kiefer’s in-fighting talent and experience earned her several key touches that gave her the lead. She became just the third woman to successfully defend her Olympic gold medal in this event when she won 15-6.

"No matter how much I tried to prepare, there's still so much pressure I put on myself," Kiefer said. "Each day was a rollercoaster, but here we are at the top."

Scruggs finished with a silver medal in her Olympic debut.

"I just want to see how good I can be with fencing," the 21-year-old said. "I've made it pretty far with this event. But hopefully we can shoot for the stars."

Earlier in the day, Scruggs defeated Harvey in a semifinal bout. Scruggs built an early lead against Harvey in the first semifinal bout, then gained a 6-point lead in the second bout until Harvey changed her weapon and broke the streak. Harvey earned another point when she ran Scruggs off the piste. Then Scruggs responded by cornering Harvey at the other end of the piste to make the match-winning touch.

Kiefer was engaged in a tight duel against Alice Volpi of Italy in the second semifinal match. The two were tied 8-8 until Tokyo gold medalist Kiefer found her momentum and went on a run to win the match 15-10.

In the bronze medal match, Harvey triumphed over Volpi in a surprise 15-12 win. Harvey made history by becoming Canada’s first-ever Olympic medalist in fencing, while Volpi finished fourth for a second consecutive Games. 

“I feel like I’m in a dream.” Harvey said.

Women's individual foil medalists
🥇Lee Kiefer (USA)
🥈Lauren Scruggs (USA)
🥉Eleanor Harvey (CAN)

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Kano made history for Japan in the men's epee gold medal match against host country favorite Yannick Borel of France.

After a penalty for passivity in the first bout, the match picked up with Kano quickly gaining a lead over Borel and ultimately prevailing with an aggressive lunge that secured a 15-9 win.

"I wanted to come here and get gold in the individual and I just did it," Kano said.

Kano may add a second gold medal from this Games when he attempts to defend his title in the Olympic men's team epee event on August 2. Borel's silver medal is his first finish on the men's individual epee podium out of four Olympics.

"It feels good to have a medal but it feels bad to lose the match," Borel said.

Earlier, in the first men’s semifinal match, Kano was victorious in a tight match against Tibor Andrasfi of Hungary. The two were tied 13-13 before going into a sudden-death tiebreaker round. Andrasfi had the priority, but Kano scored a touch to advance to the gold medal match.

After a minute of passivity in the other men's semifinal match, Borel had the support of a roaring French crowd as he defeated Egypt’s Mohamed Elsayed 15-9 to move forward to the final.

The bronze medal match between Andrasfi and Elsayed concluded with dramatic clashes for the final touch.

Tied 7-7, the match went into a one-minute sudden-death overtime round with Elsayed holding the priority. After several double touches that were not counted before time ran out, the clock was rolled back to 4.47 seconds. Elsayed and Andrasfi both attempted to score touches twice, and at the 2.29-second mark, Elsayed was able to go around the blade to score the winning touch in a counterattack.

"It was so, so intense. A lot of suspense happened in the last period," Elsayed, the first African fencer to win a medal in this event, said. "It just feels amazing when you win and you realize that you're getting an Olympic medal."

Men's individual epee medalists
🥇Koki Kano (JPN)
🥈Yannick Borel (FRA)
🥉Mohamed Elsayed (EGY)

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