With now less than 200 days to go until the Rio Games, the best épée fencers from across the globe were seeking to improve their prospects for Olympic qualification at events in Heidenheim, Germany and Barcelona, Spain, and it was Grumier and Navarria who shone brightest in accomplished performances.

The men’s épée event was held in the Congress Centrum in Heidenheim and saw over 300 fencers from 52 countries head to Germany to participate in the individual and team events.

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In the individual event, an absorbing Final saw Grumier, the World number one épée fencer, eventually defeat Ukraine’s Bogdan Nikishyn by a narrow scoreline of 15 touches to 14. Losing semi-finalists, France’s Jean-Michel Lucenay and Russia’s Anton Avdeev, took the bronze medals.

In the men’s épée team event, Italy came out on top and in doing so booked their tickets for Rio 2016. They did so after another thrilling close encounter as they beat France 40-39 in the Final. Switzerland claimed the bronze medal after they defeated Ukraine 45-29.

The women’s épée events were held in Barcelona, Spain where over 200 female epee fencers also were looking to enhance their chances of making the plane to Rio. They made their way to the Institut Nacional d’Educació Física de Catalunya, ironically a venue built for the 1992 Summer Olympic Games, and it was Navarria who gave her prospects another timely boost.

The Italian, who also won the Fencing Grand Prix event in Doha, Qatar, a month ago, claimed another victory in the women’s individual event, edging out France’s Lauren Rembi in a thrilling final by 13 hits to 12.

The bronze medal places were taken by Romania’s Ana Maria Popescu and Russia’s Lyubov Shutova.

In the women’s épée team event, Estonia beat Russia 26-22 in the final match to take gold, with Korea taking the bronze medal after beating China 23-22 in a closely fought contest.

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