After a shocking elimination round that saw two defending Olympic gold medalists defeated, the women's individual epee and men's individual sabre final promised to be lively.
Vivian Kong won a nail-biting match against host country favorite Auriane Mallo to win the Olympic gold medal in women's individual epee. Meanwhile, world No. 1 Ziad Elsissy surprsingly finished off the podium as South Korea's Oh Sang-Uk won the men's individual sabre gold medal with a hot streak of touches.
Women's epee: Kong wins historic gold
In women's epee, Kong made history by becoming Hong Kong's first woman to win a fencing medal.
She advanced to the final by winning 15-11 in an exciting bout against Estonian Nelli Differt. In the other semifinal match, the home-territory advantage may have helped Mallo prevail. After a slow start to the match, Mallo found her stride and gained a lead over Eszter Muhari of Hungary as the French crowd cheered.
The subsequent gold medal match opened with both Kong and Mallo receiving penalties for non-combativity during the first minute of the starting bout. Mallo led the match until Kong had a change in momentum.
"I just thought it was so embarrassing to lose like this," Kong said. "I was not using my brain."
She came back from a 6-point trail before the two fencers were served with a second penalty for non-combativity in the final bout. Kong and Mallo were tied 12-12 when they went into the sudden-death tiebreaker round with Kong holding the priority. She won the match with one quick touch.
In the bronze medal match, Muhari was tied 14-14 with Differt heading into the last 30 seconds of the final bout. That match also went into a sudden-death tiebreaker round in which Muhari was victorious.
Women's individual epee medalists
🥇Vivian Kong (HKG)
🥈Auriane Mallo (FRA)
🥉Eszter Muhari (HUN)
Men's sabre: South Korea wins gold, France shut out
In another upset of the day, Fares Ferjani of Tunisia triumphed 15-11 over Elsissy of Egypt in a fiery match during the semifinals of the men's sabre event. Ferjani had a quick start to the match, scoring three consecutive touches before Elsissy achieved one touch. Elsissy put up a valiant attempt at coming back from a 9-point deficit but eventually fell short.
In the other semifinal match, Oh won 15-5 in a landslide semifinal match against Italy's Luigi Samele. Samele had a fast start, scoring three successive touches in the first bout before Oh caught up and prevailed.
During the gold medal round, Ferjani closed Oh's lead with five consecutive touches.
"I just didn’t start with the right strategy," Ferjani said. "I’m very glad I was able to put up a fight in the end."
Despite this, Oh's quick footwork helped him lunge for the winning touch to Ferjani's side. The South Korean won 15-11.
The bronze medal match saw Samele become a four-time Olympic medalist as he leaned around Elsissy's parry to land the final touch and win the match 15-12.
Men's individual sabre medalists
🥇Oh Sang-Uk (KOR)
🥈Fares Ferjani (TUN)
🥉Luigi Samele (ITA)