Épée, Team, Men

The top three seeds in the world ranking were France, Italy, and Japan, in that order. Japan was the defending gold medalist while Italy had won the 2023 World Championships. Hungary was only the fifth seed, but they had Máté Koch and Gergely Siklósi, who had been the #1 and #2 seeds in the individual épée, and Tibor Andrásfi, who lost the bronze medal match in that event.

The field of eight teams also included Czechia, Egypt, Kazakhstan, and Venezuela. Czechia, seeded seventh, pulled off the big upset in round one, defeating Italy 43-38. France, Hungary, and Japan easily won to advance to the semi-finals.

Hungary and Japan met for the gold medal. Hungary won, as the final match between Siklósi and Koki Kano, the individual gold medalist, went into extra time. Kano eventually prevailed 7-6 but could not overcome Hungary’s lead, as they won the match, 26-25, to take the gold medal. Hungary won men’s team épée for only the fourth time, but this was their first title in the event since they won three consecutively from 1964-72.

In the bronze medal match, France seemed in charge after eight bouts, leading 35-31, but then Jakub Jurka defeated Yannick Borel, the individual silver medalist, 12-6, and Czechia had an unlikely bronze medal. This was only Czechia’s second Olympic fencing medal, after Alexander Choupenitch took bronze at Tokyo 2020 in the men’s individual foil.