Host nation France's quest for a much-anticipated fencing gold again fell short, as Yannick Borel lost to Koki Kano of Japan in the men's epee individual final at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, while America's Lee Kiefer retained her foil title against compatriot Lauren Scruggs.

Lee Kiefer of the United States celebrates after the Women's Foil Individual Gold Medal Bout of Fencing against her teammate Lauren Scruggs at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on July 28, 2024. (Xinhua/Fei Maohua)

Borel eased past Mohamed Elsayed of Egypt to reach the final, taking on world No. 3 Kano, who beat Hungary's Tibor Andrasfi. The Frenchman trailed from the very first point and couldn't find a way to close the gap en route to a 15-9 loss.

"It feels good to have a medal, but it feels bad to lose the match," said 35-year-old Borel. "I know Kano really well. We've already fenced against one another in team or individual, so I had some tips for the win, but this time it went his way."

Kano became the first Japanese fencer to claim an epee individual medal at the Olympics, after an historic men's epee team gold at the Tokyo Olympics. "I wanted to come here and get gold in the individual and I did it," he said.

Despite ambitions of winning two gold medals in Paris, defending champion and home favorite Romain Cannone lost to Ruslan Kurbanov of Kazakhstan 15-10 in the round of 16.

"I was really proud to have been able to express myself from the beginning. Not everyone is capable of doing this. It's a chess match, trying to anticipate the strategies, and I was surprised," said the 27-year-old.

"What counts for me is that there were some very good touches and action. That's the beauty of fencing and the Olympics. I wanted to enjoy it, and that's what I did," he added.

The bronze medal went to Elsayed.

China's Wang Zijie beat Venezuela's Francisco Limardo 15-12 before losing to Kano 15-4 in the round of 16.

Defending champion Kiefer and Scruggs met in the first-ever all-American women's foil final in Olympic history, with Kiefer cruising to a 15-6 victory, becoming only the third women's foil fencer to retain the title.

Eleanor Harvey pocketed the bronze, becoming the first Canadian to win an Olympic fencing medal. Despite holding positions two, three and four in the current world rankings and leading the medal table in this event among National Olympic Committees, Italian fencers failed to live up to expectations.

China's Chen Qingyuan, Huang Qianqian and Wang Yuting also took part in the women's foil individual event, but none made the last eight.

The women's sabre and men's foil individual events will take place on Monday.

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