European Fencing Championships

The European Fencing Championships is an annual top-level European fencing competition organized by the European Fencing Confederation.

History

The first competition bearing the name of "European Fencing Championships" was held in Paris in 1921. The International Fencing Federation comprised only European federations at the time, with the exception of the United States. In 1936, on the 25th anniversary of the FIE and at the request of the Italian federation, the FIE congress decided to open the European Championships to all countries and granted retroactive recognition of the European Championships as World Championships.
After 1937 the FIE focused on the organisation of the World Fencing Championships. Demand for European Championships appeared at the 1979 congress, but it was rejected on the ground that they would either belittle the World Championships or offer a poor fencing level. The question was put forth again the following year by the Yugoslav federation, with the support of the Italian federation, which offered to organize the first competition. The congress agreed to authorize such championships, on the condition that they would be held only when the World Championships were organized in a non-European country. The first edition took place in Foggia, Italy on 11 and 12 November 1981. They proved to cause no interference with the 1981 World Championships and the restriction was lifted.

Formula

Contrary to the World Championships and the World Cup, no exemption is granted to Top 16 fencers: all fence a round of pools, which eliminates 20% to 30% of participants. The remaining fencers compete in a direct elimination table.

Editions

Editions of European Fencing Championships

Number	Edition	City	Country	Events
1	1981	Foggia		4
2	1982	Mödling		4
3	1983	Lisbon		4
4	1991	Vienna		10
5	1992	Lisbon		5
6	1993	Linz		5
7	1994	Kraków		5
8	1995	Keszthely		5
9	1996	Limoges		5
10	1997	Gdańsk		5
11	1998	Plovdiv		10
12	1999	Bolzano		11
13	2000	Funchal		12
14	2001	Koblenz		12
15	2002	Moscow		12
16	2003	Bourges		12
17	2004	Copenhagen		12
18	2005	Zalaegerszeg		12
19	2006	İzmir		12
20	2007	Ghent		12

Number	Edition	City	Country	Events
21	2008	Kyiv		12
22	2009	Plovdiv		12
23	2010	Leipzig		12
24	2011	Sheffield		12
25	2012	Legnano		12
26	2013	Zagreb		12
27	2014	Strasbourg		12
28	2015	Montreux		12
29	2016	Toruń		12
30	2017	Tbilisi		12
31	2018	Novi Sad		12
32	2019	Düsseldorf		12
–	~~2020~~¹	~~Minsk~~		12
–	~~2021~~¹	~~Plovdiv~~		12
33	2022	Antalya		12
34	2023	Plovdiv
34	2023	Kraków
35	2024	Basel		12
36	2025	Genoa		12
-	2026²	~~Tallinn~~

¹ 2020 and 2021 European Fencing Championships were cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic.
²Estonia were stripped of hosting the edition because of their refusal to issues visas to Russian and Belarussian athletes.

Medal table

Last updated after the 2025 European Fencing Championships.

Multiple gold medalists

Boldface denotes active fencers and highest medal count among all fencers per type.

Men

All events

Rank	Fencer	Country	Weapon	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Aleksey Yakimenko		Sabre	2003	2017	13	5	5	23
2	Stanislav Pozdnyakov		Sabre	1994	2008	13	–	4	17
3	Andrea Cassarà		Foil	2002	2019	10	4	1	15
4	Andrea Baldini		Foil	2004	2016	8	2	5	15
5	Gábor Boczkó		Épée	1997	2015	7	5	3	15
6	Géza Imre		Épée	1998	2013	6	4	2	12
7	Aleksey Frosin		Sabre	1997	2008	6	1	2	9
8	Yannick Borel		Épée	2011	2022	6	1	1	8
9	Aldo Montano		Sabre	2002	2019	5	5	1	11
10	Áron Szilágyi		Sabre	2011	2025	5	4	3	12

Individual events

Rank	Fencer	Country	Weapon	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Aleksey Yakimenko		Sabre	2003	2016	5	4	3	12
2	Stanislav Pozdnyakov		Sabre	1994	2007	5	–	2	7
3	Andrea Cassarà		Foil	2002	2015	4	1	–	5
4	Yannick Borel		Épée	2016	2022	4	–	–	4
5	Gábor Boczkó		Épée	1997	2015	3	1	2	6
6	Andrea Baldini		Foil	2005	2013	3	–	3	6
7	Pavel Kolobkov		Épée	1996	2006	2	3	4	9
8	Daniele Garozzo		Foil	2015	2022	2	3	–	5
9	Aleksey Cheremisinov		Foil	2011	2019	2	2	2	6
10	Max Hartung		Sabre	2011	2019	2	1	2	5

Women

All events

Rank	Fencer	Country	Weapon	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Arianna Errigo		Foil	2009	2025	15	3	4	22
2	Sofya Velikaya		Sabre	2003	2019	14	6	3	23
3	Valentina Vezzali		Foil	1993	2015	13	4	4	21
4	Elisa Di Francisca		Foil	2004	2019	13	2	3	18
5	Olha Kharlan		Sabre	2005	2024	8	8	6	22
6	Ana Maria Popescu		Épée	2006	2016	7	4	2	13
7	Simona Gherman		Épée	2008	2016	7	1	2	10
8	Yekaterina Dyachenko		Sabre	2006	2016	6	4	1	11
9	Yelena Nechayeva		Sabre	2000	2007	6	3	2	11
10	Martina Batini		Foil	2014	2025	6	2	1	9