Fencing isn’t exactly a high-profile sport, but the U.S. women’s saber team made international news Monday by winning its first world championship in nearly a decade.

Mariel Zagunis lead the squad to a 45-39 victory over France in the final at Kazan, Russia.

“We’ve fallen short these past few years, but I always knew we had it in our team,” Zagunis said.

The Americans, who last won the world title in 2005, had to get past defending champion Ukraine in the semifinals, winning that contest 45-44.


“I feel like we have this core team and no other team has what we have,” member Ibtihaj Muhammad said. “We fight for each other and know we’ve always got each other’s back out there.”