Israeli fencer Yuval Freilich on Tuesday won the gold medal in the European Fencing Championships in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Freilich, ranked 40th in the world, managed to defeat Italian Andrea Santarelli, ranked 13th, in the contest’s final.
The two ended the first third of their fight in a tie at 3:3, but Freilich took the lead in the next two thirds and finished 15:9.
Freilich is the first Israeli fencer to win a European championship.
Freilich, 24, grew up in the Israeli town of Neve Daniel in Judea and Samaria (the so-called West Bank). He is the son of Australian immigrants and has been fencing since age 5. He won two gold medals in teen championships in 2014 and 2015 and a silver in the under-23 category in 2016.
“It’s the most incredible feeling,” he said in an interview posted to Facebook by the European Fencing Confederation.
