Élodie Clouvel got her Paris Olympics off to a good start by dominating the fencing ranking event on Thursday, a sort of one-minute mini-tournament with a single winning touch where each athlete faces the 35 others. The Frenchwoman, Olympic vice-champion in Rio in 2016, finished with an exceptional success rate (27 wins against 8 losses). Enough to approach Saturday’s semi-finals with a slight advantage in points and, above all, full of confidence.
The other Frenchwoman involved, Marie Oteiza, took sixth place in the ranking event (21 wins, 14 losses). In the men’s race, who competed in their ranking event earlier in the day, Valentin Prades finished 11th (20 wins, 15 losses) while Jean-Baptiste Mourcia, 23rd, was further back (16 wins, 19 losses).
The results of this ranking event are used to determine the course of the bonus fencing event, played in the form of a direct elimination tournament, during the semi-finals and the final. These will not take place at the Arena Paris Nord, as this Thursday, but at the Château de Versailles. The men will play their semi-finals on Friday, the women on Saturday.
