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Italian quartet, Arianna Errigo, Martina Faveretto, Francesca Palumbo and Alice Volpi claimed the European title on the first day of team competition at the European Championships in Antalya, Turkey.

The top ranked team had a bye through the first knockout phase before easing to victories over Romania 45-20 and then Germany 45-23 to make the gold medal match. Second seeds, France made it through to the final on the other side of the draw by beating Ukraine 45-38 and Poland 45-28.

Losing semi-finalists, Germany (Leandra Behr, Leonie Ebert, Kim Kirschen and Anne Sauer) and Poland (Martyna Dlugosz, Martina Jelinska, Hanna Lyczbinska and Julia Walczyk) faced each other in the bronze medal play-off. Poland led after a cautious start from both teams, 13-12 after the first three legs of nine but the German team got the better of the middle third to lead 30-19. Germany’s individual Champion, Leonie Ebert, in particular, produced a magical display, anchoring the team to the bronze medal with a 45-31 victory.

Italy lined up for the final with Palumbo on the bench whilst France started with Anita Blaze, Pauline Ranvier and Ysaora Thibus with Solene Butruille in reserve. Despite Thibus putting France 5-3 up after the first leg, Errigo and Favaretto came on for Italy to lead 15-10 after three. The Italian trio pushed on in the middle third going 30-20 ahead and never looked back, taking the European Women’s Team Foil title 45-25.

The event continues with team events for Men’s Foil and Women’s Epee on day five of the Championships. The full schedule is available here.