Hosts France finally clinched a much-anticipated fencing gold at the Paris Olympics on Monday, as Manon Apithy-Brunet beat compatriot Sara Balzer in the women's sabre individual final. Cheung Ka Long of Hong Kong, China defended his men's foil individual title.

A powerhouse in fencing, France narrowly missed the highest podium on the first two competition days with two silvers in the men's and women's epee individual events.

Filippo Macchi (L) of Italy and Cheung Ka Long of China's Hong Kong compete during the men's foil individual gold medal bout of fencing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, July 29, 2024. (Xinhua/Fei Maohua)

Hosts France finally clinched a much-anticipated fencing gold at the Paris Olympics on Monday, as Manon Apithy-Brunet beat compatriot Sara Balzer in the women's sabre individual final. Cheung Ka Long of Hong Kong, China defended his men's foil individual title.

The French fencers secured the gold medal in advance as world No. 2 Balzer eased past title favorite Olga Kharlan of Ukraine in the semifinal, while world No. 5 Apithy-Brunet beat South Korea's Choi Se-bin.

Balzer scored first, but Apithy-Brunet soon built a three-point advantage and kept it up till the end, winning 15-12. The 28-year-old had previously claimed a team silver and an individual bronze from Tokyo 2020.

Kharlan edged Choi 15-14 in the bronze medal match, taking the first medal for Ukraine at Paris 2024. "I hope some little girl sees me and, in the future, she will know and want to be an Olympic champion, a five-time Olympic medallist," Kharlan said.

China's Yang Hengyu failed to reach the round of 16 after losing to Anna Bashta of Azerbaijan 15-9.

In the men's foil individual final, 27-year-old Cheung, who clinched Hong Kong's first-ever Olympic fencing gold in Tokyo, started strongly and held off a late scare, scoring three points in a row en route to a thrilling 15-14 victory over Italy's Filippo Macchi.

Cheung becomes the first athlete from Hong Kong to win two Olympic gold medals and the first athlete in this event to win back-to-back golds since 1956. This is Hong Kong's second gold medal in Paris, following Vivian Kong's women's epee individual gold on Saturday.

Nick Itkin of the United States defeated Japan's Kazuki Iimura to pocket the bronze.

China's Mo Ziwei, Chen Haiwei and Xu Jie also took part in the men's foil individual event, but none made the last eight.

The women's epee team event will take place on Tuesday.