About the Fencing World Championships

In 1913 the Federation Internationale d’Escrime (FIE, International Fencing Federation) was established. Before that time individual fencers would claim the title of world champion and fight against contenders but there was no organisation to back the claim before 1913. In the 1920 Antwerp Olympic Games the first international title was sanctioned by FIE and the year after the so-called Championnats d'Europe was held in Paris in 1921 - an open international event for all countries despite the name and the participants in the early editions [1].

The Championnats d'Europe was officially renamed Championnats du Monde from 1937 onwards and was an annual competition held in the non-Olympic years. The early editions from 1921 onwards are considered as the first world championships [2].

In 1921 only men’s epee was on the agenda. Then came men’s individual foil and sabre the following years and in 1929 women’s individual foil. By 1932 four events had both individual and team world championships: women’s foil and for the men all three events: epee, foil and sabre. Much later women’s epee events (1988) and sabre events (1999) were added to the programme for a total of 12 events at the world championships in the 2000’s [3].