The Swiss fencing champion wins the team's gold medal for the first time

Max Heinzer. (Image: Alexander Plawewski / EPA)

(nda) The fencing champions won gold in the team World Cup for Switzerland for the first time in fencing. In Wuxi, China, they won the final against South Korea 36:31. The Swiss team included Max Heinzer, Benjamin Steffen, Michele Niggeler and Lucas Malcotti. In the final, the former substitute of the shooter Malcotti instead of the seventh Steffen World Cup was used

Valais Malcotti quickly showed the Swiss the way to victory with a 5: 4 start. Ticino Niggeler then presented an outstanding performance in the Swiss team. He extended the lead to Olympic champion Park Sangyeong at 10: 7 and rose in his second bout with a 9: 5 over Jung Jinsun in advance even at 19:13.

But less of Steffen and Heinzer's balance sheets left the head The final duel between Steffen and Sangyeong blends at once (25:24). But the southpaw Steffen then completed the coup with an 11: 7.

The Swiss were defeated by the Asians in 2015 at the World Cup in Moscow in the 37:45 semi-finals. Or during the last clash at the Rio Olympics, the (insignificant) battle of 5th place (36:45) was lost.

But in the final, the Swiss team grew beyond the semi-finals of the World Cup against France, until here hard to beat for Switzerland. Against the reigning champion and the Olympic champion, Heinzer has stood out. He took a 30:31 backlog and led in the penultimate bout with a 10: 2 over Alex Fava Switzerland to a pre-decisive lead 40:33. The fourth Steffen Olympiques then left with a 5: 5 against Yannick Borel, the only European champion of the last three years, no fire anymore.

Switzerland and France were already in the World Cup final last year. The Swiss missed the first World Cup victory in the team competition at that time only gossamer. When the leader of the Heinzer team had to leave the Board in a 32: 29 with a concussion, Switzerland drew against the favorite Olympic champion but still the short straw (43:45)

In the quarterfinals , Switzerland had defeated 36:35 Italy. It was another successful revenge against Italy. Just a month ago, the Swiss withdrew at the European Championships in Novi Sad against the same opponent in the fight for the bronze medal, the shortest (29:45).

The previous year, the Swiss also had the quarter-final against the Italians applied. It had already been a successful revenge for the bitter defeat of the quarter-finals of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.