Paris 2024 Olympics: Fencing athlete Auriane Mallo-Breton loses in the final but wins another medal for France

Auriane Mallot-Breton MAXPPP – LP/Jean-Baptiste Quentin

La Française Auriane Mallo-Breton s’est la Hongkongaise Vivian Kong Man Wai en finale de l’épée en escrime, ce samedi 27 juillet aux JO de Paris 2024.

At the end of a first day of high-energy fencing competition under the nave of the Grand Palais, Auriane Mallo-Breton became Olympic vice-champion in épée, following in the footsteps of the “Wasp” Laura Flessel, the last French épée silver medalist in individual events in 2004.

Auriane Mallo-Breton became on Saturday the fourth French épée fencer to win an individual medal at the Olympic Games, since the weapon entered the Olympic program in Atlanta in 1996, after Laura Flessel (gold in 1996, bronze in 2000 in Sydney and silver in 2004 in Athens), Valérie Barlois (silver in 1996) and Maureen Nisima (bronze in 2004).

Her final will however leave big regrets, because she started her quest for Olympic gold to succeed Flessel perfectly, leading 7 touches to 1. But the world No. 1, Hong Kong's Vivian Kong Man Wai gradually came back to equalize at 10 all. Still tied at the end of the last three minutes, the two fencers fought for the gold medal in sudden death, finally won by Kong (13-12). T

Throughout the day, Auriane Mallo-Breton played at the Grand Palais in an atmosphere worthy of a football stadium. Her entrances on stage, at the top of the imposing staircase of the Parisian monument, in the semi-finals and final, were accompanied by loud encouragement.

Before the start of the competition, French eyes were turned towards Marie-Florence Candassamy, crowned world champion in 2023 in Milan. But the last medalist on the French side was Mallo-Breton, who won silver at the European Championships in Basel in mid-June.

A scare to start

At 30 years old, the Lyon native is enjoying the most successful period of her career, having won her first World Cup victory in May in Cali (Colombia), before reaching the final of the European Championships in Basel last month.

Thanks to her cannonball end to the season, the left-hander has been propelled to world No. 6 ahead of the 2024 Olympics. On Saturday, her tournament almost ended very early, right from her entry into the competition, with a badly started round of 16, when she was trailing at the start (5-0), then with 19 seconds to go (13-10). But she managed to snatch sudden death to finally qualify in extremis (14-13) in the minute of extra time against the Ukrainian Dzohan Bezhura.

Her journey was then marked by highs such as her semi-final full of mastery against the Hungarian Eszter Muhari (15-9), making the difference in the third and final three-minute period, when the two épée fencers were tied (6-6).

Licensed in Saint-Maur-des-Fossées

Licensed in the Paris region in Saint-Maur-des-Fossées, Mallo-Breton showed extreme concentration, not completely exploding with joy after her victory in the semi-final, even though she had just ended a 20-year drought for French women's épée at the Individual games.

Only the lighting of the Grand Palais distracted her a little, playing the entire tournament with a strip of adhesive tape stuck to the top of her mask after some complicated first touches. And a fatal drop in concentration that cost her the supreme title.

In three days, it is in the team event that she will try to shine with her teammates Candassamy and Coraline Vitalis, who stopped in the round of 16 on Saturday, and Alexandra Louis Marie, a substitute. In the past, it was collectively that French women's épée got back in the saddle after Flessel's international retirement, with European titles in 2017, 2018, 2022 and 2023.