Hong Kong World Championships 2026 SMF -GOLD- Filippo Macchi ITA vs Alexande Choupenitch CZE

This is a very elite Italian squad. I'm just waiting to wipe the score from the previous women's semi-finals. I'm looking to reset the scoring system here, and they have done that. This is it, this is for gold. Alexander Shupanich of Czechia on the right-hand side, facing Filippo Macchi of Italy on the left. Men's World Championship title, up for grabs. And we're underway. Gold and silver, the only question. Macchi gets hit with a parallel pass by Alexander Shupanich, Two years ago seems like a long time, but you know that in Macchi's head, every day he's been thinking about that silver medal in Paris, and how he thought it should have been gold. And you know that this is his opportunity at redemption, and a little bit over-anxious on the first two actions in the middle, as Shupanich was able to pick him off for the second time. Macchi sets up shop on the far left side of the piste. Actually, the fencer is supposed to start each time in the middle of the piste. But Macchi, that's his spot. He's setting up there, trying to draw the right-handed fencer into attacking into his inside line. Clearly, that's his strategy. And it also helps defend your saw line side as well, because the other fencer can't step off the side of the piste to hit. It's the same for Shupanich as well. No, it's the same for both. So Shupanich is comfortable. If he was not comfortable, he'd move over to the left side of the piste, to the middle. He's okay with it. Four clear. And whatever nerves he may have had at the beginning of this run, I think they're blown away. Right now, the nerves are on Macchi right now, because he got picked off three times right in the middle, starting too quick. He has to change the tempo, go slow fast. Whoa! Shupanich is feeling it here at the beginning, and Macchi is not. Beautiful attack into preparation there. I think Shup's read that one well. He knew that Macchi was going to come in, stop, and there's a little opportunity for him to land the attack. Very tricky. Well, that was a power riposte from Filippo Macchi, and he missed the target. Everything's working for Shupanich. We see only green lights. I don't think we've seen the red come on once. And until Macchi gets off on the board with that first one, this could spiral. Again. Shupanich is going to do this inside the first period. And Macchi was setting up the attack. He's usually going to put that light on, and he didn't. The light just will not go on for him. Nothing is working. Shoulder tight, perhaps? Maybe. And he changed his tempo there. He went slow and then fast. He still couldn't hit. Disappointed with some of the calls at the Olympic Games where he got a silver medal. It was a really tight fight. But, of course, both defenders have had issues with Shupanich defending the title run in Tokyo. Is it going to be a loss in the final of the Olympic Games and then a loss in the final of the World Championships for Filippo Macchi? Well, right now, you'd have to say so. It just seemed like he stuck a little bit there. He's going in slow motion, and Shupanich is going in fast motion. It's two completely different speeds of these fencers. Macchi has a quick hand, powerful in the blade. He hasn't even been able to put the red light on once. Does it help that Shupanich has got an Italian in the coaching box? Possibly. But we know that the fencers all know each other. They watch the videos and everything. Everyone knows everyone's game. But half of the battle in sport is to be ahead of the game. That's what Shupanich has got here. He's got an eight-point lead. Those are the only eight points that have been scored in the match. Even in that action, Macchi had it perfectly. Drew Shupanich made the power post and hit off target. But this can't get the colored light on. Shupanich is fencing at a different speed. His hand is quicker right now. Steps in and stops. Shup sees it. There's the stop. It just goes direct. It's not even being made complex for Alexander Shupanich. It's almost like Macchi looks like a deer in headlights right now. He just can't seem to get the flow at all. There's a nice action. At least he got the light on. He's given a massive head start to Alexander Shupanich. He's now 10-0 up. Surely we're not going to see a world championship men's qualifier finish 15-0. I hope not. Nobody wants to see a runaway like this. I think Alexander Shupanich will be happy about it. I agree with that. But he's fencing green. He's not missed an opportunity. And Macchi hasn't taken an opportunity. This is a huge head start. It would be a real surprise if Filippo Macchi could get himself back into the match. He's got bags and bags of time. So I think perhaps he needs to set these hits up just a little bit more. He hasn't scored one yet. He needs to have his set-up take just that little bit longer. Well, Karapos fails from Shupanich. But like you said right at the beginning, he's just fencing at a different speed. A different speed than Macchi. You have to feel for the guy. This is very hard to watch. We very rarely see this at this level. Yes, we see some blowouts and everything. But nothing like it. It's a shutout. Oh, he sees it. Shupanich just sees it as Macchi comes forward. Quicker on the feet, quicker with the hand. And here's the result. Still the attack from the left. Macchi got the light on, so it's still his attack. Oh my. This is incomprehensible. This is one of those bouts where Macchi has nothing. He fenced so well to beat Borodichev, number one in the world. Historic, no doubt. Every time even Macchi has the right of way, except Harry, he cannot get the riposte. Yes, he got nailed in preparation in the middle a bunch of times, he got hit. But even when he has the right of way, he can't get the right. And he also doesn't seem to be slowing down. He's just going straight into it. We'd have to check the history books, but I don't think I have ever seen a 15-0 at any World Final. The World Cup, World Championships. This is two points away from being history in terms of the first man from Shakir to get a fencing World Championship title. And potentially the first fencer to win a world title 15-0. I mean, this is huge. Nobody would have predicted this coming into the final. We thought this was going to be super tight. But Cupidic has fenced exceptionally well. Now Filippo Macchi slows it down. And now he scores his first point. And the fans are giving an appreciative cheer because nobody here in the 4,000 people wanted to see him shut out. As demoralizing as that could be. 13-1 though. The exact picture you would imagine. Cupidic has been dominant. 25 seconds left. So this one astonishingly may well get to a second period. And the pair of them back away. Cupidic is playing a professional game here. He's not rushing over the line. He's just seeing this one out. Because the world title for sure has got to go to the man from Shakir. Time runs out in the first period. There's enough time for an off-target like from Filippo Macchi. First time we're in his half of the piece. But we go to the break. And yes, you can pinch yourself if you like. But Cupidic is leading the Men's Foil World Championship Final 13 points to 1. The coach doesn't have to do anything here, right? Just keep doing what you're doing. This is a tale of two fencers. One who's on fire and one who's ice cold. And it started in the very first action in the middle, right in the box. Where Macchi walked into an attack in preparation or counterattack, whatever it was. And it just continued. And you have to wonder, like, what would be more painful? What happened to him in Paris, losing 15-14 to become the Olympic champion? Or this? That was probably more painful. This is more demoralizing. And it's just a very rough... A great day, unfortunately, ending with a rough final bout. It's a weird one, isn't it, Vincent? He's just standing there. We've never seen Macchi like this. Sometimes he's on, sometimes he's off. But we've never seen him where he's been this off. And you have to tip your hat to Cupidic. From the very first action of this bout, he's been on top of Macchi. Again. Ready, Alex. Again. Ready, Alex. This is it. This is now one point away from a historic world title by an astonishingly wide margin. Alexander Shupinich will have to wait for a final decision here from the referee. He did step in. He did appear to slow down. The referee's just checking whether he stopped. It did look like it was attack from the right. The referee is back straight away. And he calls it attack into preparation from the left. So he has to wait at least one more hit as Filippo Macchi gets his second hit of the match. Attack from the right. And Alexander Shupinich of Czechia becomes his country's first ever fencing world champion. And he's done it by a quite astonishing scoreline of 15 points to 2. The silver medal will go to Filippo Macchi. But the new world champion in men's foil is Alexander Shupinich. If there ever was a deserving world champion, it's Alexander Shupinich. He was outstanding. What a performance. The new world champion, Alexander Shupinich. First man to be crowned the world champion here in Hong Kong. Championships have been held in Hong Kong. And no doubt there will be more tears of joy from the big man. What an astonishing performance, Jeff. Just amazing. The fans are really loving it. Shupinich was a fan favorite. A dream come true for Alexander Shupinich, the world champion. Thank you very much. You're an incredible crown. I'm so happy. I'm world champion. Thank you. How was your expectation? Or did it come a bit smoother than you expected? I had no expectation. I just fight for one touch. Always one touch at the hardest possible. And it was enough. So there are so many little fans, local fans here. They want to be a world champion, maybe in the future. So is there any advice that you can give to the little kid over there? I've been fencing for 23 years. After 23 years, I become a world champion. Keep working hard and you can achieve dreams. So the last question is, what's next? Right after the world champion here, what's next? Big party. We're gonna party hard and celebrate. Thank you to my family, to my coach, to my team, to the president, to everyone. Thank you very much. It means a lot for our country. It's the first time in history. So let's celebrate. Thank you. Thank you and congratulations once again. And give a big round of applause to...