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2005 World Championships DVDs

In October 2005, Fencing Pictures sent its own team to the World Championships, a four-man squad with a a cameraman, a commentator, a designer, and an internet tech. Ten long, busy days later, we had interviews, pictures, a website, and 6 complete days of broadcast-quality fencing video in the can. There was so much footage to go through, it took a month just to sort it out.

The result is a 6-DVD set, chock full of fencing goodness, which is available individually or as a collection. Each DVD is filled to capacity with 2 hours of fencing, shot from 9 different cameras. The footage has swoops, pans, slow-motion repeats, on-screen graphics, and an optional audio track with commentary by Alex Ripa and fencers like Ivan Lee (USA), Aida Mohammed (Hungary), Sherraine Mackay (Canada), Linda Strachan (UK), Paul Soter (USA), Lindsey Campbell (USA), Maya Lawrence (USA), and more! The bonus material (varies by DVD) includes interviews with fencing notables, extra bouts from the rounds of 16 and 8, and awards ceremonies.

The 2005 Leipzig World Championships DVDs is the best collection of competition fencing video available in the world.

Men's Foil DVD

The favorites for the gold were World #1 Erwan Le Pechoux (France) and World #2 Salvatore Sanzo (Italy), both being reliable and dominating fencers. However, only Sanzo made it to the appointment -- Le Pechoux was eliminated in a hard-fought quarter-finals by the lightning-quick Liangliang Zhang (China). Nicolas Beaudan (France) had momentum from his year of strong results, and Andrei Deev surpassed himself after a day of frenetic fencing, entering the top four from a #45 world ranking. In men's Men's team foil, France met Italy, for the definitive match in a long series of team bouts this year.

Beaudan (France) vs Zhang (China)

Beaudan is a strong strategic fencer who has prospered under the new foil timings. Typically edging ahead by playing on his opponents' weaknesses, he finds very little to exploit in China's Zhang. Zhang is fresh from his close, exhilarating victory over the favored Le Pechoux, and uses his tireless speed-and-distance game to great effect. Zhang seems unstoppable at times, mixing his long lunges with disjoined hand-tempo to draw the Frenchman into ill-advised attacks on preparation. Beaudan rallies in the endgame of the bout, tenaciously fighting with long series of parry ripostes and tempo games, but Zhang is not about to miss his chance.

Sanzo (Italy) vs Deev (Russia)

Andrei Deev (Russia) has had occasional flashes of brilliance in his career, but usually ranks between 12th and 30th in the world. Today he's on fire, and he quickly makes it clear to the all-powerful Sanzo that he could be a real danger -- hence this interesting aberration of a bout.

In the very first period, Deev surprises Sanzo on tempo, making some strong touches -- and tempo is Sanzo's game! You can actually see Sanzo's fencing change as he makes a pragmatic choice about whether he's going to fence for thrills, or to advance to the final bout -- Sanzo decides to advance. The result is a low-scoring match where neither fencer risks over-committment, and which eventually goes into priority overtime. Sanzo gambles on winning priority, and loses: He must make a point in the final minute, or Deev wins. The bout is uncertain until the final four seconds.

Sanzo (Italy) vs Zhang (China)

Sanzo happily returns to his game, and commences to work over Zhang, as Zhang had worked over Beaudan. This bout is a benchmark for showing how improvisation and tactical sensitivity can overcome raw technique and power. Sanzo, fencing defensively, easily finds parries for Zhang's attacks, frustrates Zhang's distance by dancing inside the tip, and grabs touches of opportunity from infighting. But Zhang has upset Sanzo in the past, and he unflaggingly works his strengths -- tremendous technique and lightning lunges -- to draw even with the Italian.

Team Final: France vs Italy

In 2005, France and Italy met several times in the finals, frequently to Italy's detriment. The French, while their individual results can vary wildly, are exceptional team players, and are very effective at dominating the higher-ranked Italians with progressive scoring.

This time, the Italians change things up and give us a peek at the future of Italian foil. They bench Andrea Cassara (who had lost to France's Beaudan in individuals) and let youngster Andrea Baldini (#2 2005 Jr World Championship, and #6 in Leipzig) share the strip with Simone Vanni and Salvatore Sanzo. The French, meanwhile, build their squads based not on results, but on how the fencers work together, so Victor Sintes (20th) was bypassed for Nicolas Beaudan (#3), Erwan Le Pechoux (#5), and Brice Guyart (#43), who is still struggling back from an injury to recapture the brilliance of his 2004 Olympic Gold.

Excellent commentary with Alex Ripa and fencer Jonathan Tiompkin (USA). A technical difficulty with the broadcast feed causes the commentary to begin 1 1/2 minutes into the match.

Extras:

• Interview with Ralf Bissdorf, the long-fencing godfather of German foil
• Team Highlights
• An address from Rene Roch

by Walter Flaschka