Épée, Individual, Men

Hungary’s Máté Koch was the 2023 World Champion, was world ranked #1, and was the #1 seed in Paris. He had a bye in round one, and then, in a huge upset, lost to Venezuela’s 32nd seed, Grabiel Lugo, 15-10.

That left the competition wide-open with no clear favorite. The second seed was another Hungarian, Gergely Siklósi, but he went out in round three, losing to Belgium’s Neisser Loyola. By the quarter-finals, only two of the top eight seeds remained – Japan’s Koki Kano (#4) and France’s Yannick Borel (#3).

Kano and Borel made their way to the final, where Kano won an unlikely gold easily, 15-9. Kano had no previous international medals individually except in local Asian competition. Borel had been World Champion in the individual épée but that was back in 2018.

The bronze medal match came down to the 10th seed, Egypt’s Mohamed El-Sayed defeating another Hungarian, Tibor Andrásfi, the 16th seed. El-Sayed’s bronze medal was only the second by an Egyptian in Olympic fencing, after Alaaeldin Abouelkassem had won silver in the 2012 men’s individual foil.