Italy triumphed 45-39 in the women's team foil final against France ©Getty Images

There was double team success for hosts Italy on the penultimate day of the International Fencing Federation (FIE) Fencing World Championships in Milan, where they won women's foil and men's épée gold.

Italy were the favourites in the women's foil as the defending champions and won three of the four individual medals at this year's event, with Alice Volpi taking gold, Arianna Errigo silver and Martina Favaretto bronze.

The trio and Francesca Palumbo combined for team success at the Milan Convention Centre, beating Olympic runners-up France 45-39 in the final.

Italy had beaten Germany 45-23 in the quarter-finals and Japan 43-30 in the semi-finals earlier in the day.

Japan bounced back to take bronze through a 45-34 victory against the United States.

In the men's épée, Italy went one better than their silver at the World Championships last year in Egypt's capital Cairo, beating France to end their opponents' run of back-to-back golds in 2019 and 2022.

Italy's team included individual runner-up Davide Di Veroli, who took gold with Gabriele Cimini, Andrea Santarelli and Federico Vismara.

They dominated the final 45-32 against France, following on from a 38-36 victory against Czech Republic in the quarter-finals and 35-23 win against Venezuela.

Italy took gold in the men's team épée ©Getty Images
Italy took gold in the men's team épée ©Getty Images

Venezuela earned their first FIE Fencing World Championships medal since 2018 by beating South Korea 45-41.

The women's sabre team competition began today, with Ukraine's Olha Kharlan permitted to compete after her controversial black card penalty for refusing to shake the hand of Russian opponent Anna Smirnova, competing as a neutral, on Thursday (July 27) was lifted by the FIE.

Kharlan contributed to 45-27 and 45-33 wins for Ukraine against Uzbekistan and Italy respectively, setting up a quarter-final against the US.

Defending champions Hungary went through to a quarter-final against Greece after beating Poland 45-39, while top seeds France are set to face Japan after overcoming Algeria 45-22.

South Korea against Azerbaijan is the other quarter-final.

Men's foil was the other team event which began today, defending champions Italy thrashing Qatar 45-16 and Belgium 45-29 to reach the quarter-finals against Hong Kong.

The US are set to face Poland, China take on France and Japan play South Korea in the other last eight ties.

The FIE Fencing World Championships is set to conclude tomorrow with the conclusion of the women's team sabre and men's team foil.