Koki Kano Gives Japan Its First Individual Olympic Gold in Fencing

Koki Kano won the gold medal in the men's epee individual final at the Grand Palais in Paris on Sunday, July 28, defeating France's Yannick Borel by a score of 15-9.

Kano, a 26-year-old from Ama, Aichi Prefecture, was part of the Japan team that took the gold at the 2020 Tokyo Games. He had to win a total of five matches on Sunday to top the podium in France.

"I am so very happy, but I am tired," Kano stated. "It's a very good feeling. I had to focus very much today. This is so important, because it's the first individual gold medal in fencing in Japan, and this is history."

Kano, the Asian Games champion in the event in Hangzhou, China, in September 2023, began his drive to Olympic glory with a narrow 14-12 victory over South Korea's Jaewon Kim in the first round.

In the second round, Kano routed China's Zijie Wang 15-4, then downed Kazakhstan's Ruslan Kurbanov 15-6 in the quarterfinals.

Koki Kano Outduels Hungarian Opponent in Semifinals

Kano's toughest match came in the semifinals where he just edged Hungary's Tibor Andrasfi 14-13 to advance to the final.

Kano led 3-2 after the first period against Borel, then increased his advantage to 9-5 after the second period, before closing out the decisive win 15-9 in the third period.

"I know Kano really well," Borel said after the match. "We have already fenced against one another in the team or individual, so I had some tips for the win, but this time it went his way. He did really well, because I wanted to win gold really bad."

Egypt's Mohamed Elsayed bested Andrasfi 8-7 in the bronze medal bout.

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Author: Jack Gallagher

The author is a veteran sports journalist and one of the world's foremost figure skating experts. Find articles and podcasts by Jack on his author page, and find him on X (formerly Twitter) @sportsjapan.