A new 20-point team format, piloted in 2025 and introduced to the official World Cup programme for 2026, brings many new perspectives. 

Four athletes – two men and two women – and two category A and category B fencers compete for honours in an event which brings gender parity and improved fairness, as athletes only fence within the same category. Reducing competition to just four rounds brings greater jeopardy and excitement. 

At the LA 2028 Paralympics the mixed team sabre will be contested to 20 points. It will bring a full complement of weapons back to the team competition at a Paralympics for the first time since Athens 2004. 

China once again showed why they are the Paralympic champions in foil in the men’s and women’s traditional format with a stunning 20-6 win against Italy in the foil on Saturday. 

Kang Su opened their account against Andreaa Mogos before Haiyan Gu stretched them to a seven-point lead versus Sofia Garnero. 

Luca Platania Parisi, the bronze medallist from Friday’s individual competition, did manage to close the gap slightly against Saichun Zhong who won the gold, but the deficit going into the last round was still 10 points. 

Benjun Qin only had to hold on to the lead against Michele Massa and did so with great flare, landing a sky hook to take China over the line. 

Great Britain’s Gemma Collis, Emily Holder, Oliver Lam-Watson and Emily Holder claimed the bronze after a win against South Korea. 

China were also victorious in the mixed team foil, once again winning their final against Italy. 

Zhong featured in their performance this time too, taking on individual gold medallist Emanuele Lambertini in the last leg after Jie Zhang and Yuandong Chen had won their matches against Sofia Garnero and Amelio Castro. Julia Anna Markowska was the sole Italian to win a round in her opening clash with Ao Lanzhu. 

Thailand’s Chitiphat Charoenta, Saysunee Jana, Virot Sudjai and Aphinya Thongdaeng beat Poland in the bronze medal match. 

With two golds already won, China went on to secure a place in their third final of the day in the mixed team sabre. 

Ao and Gu returned to the piste with Yang Chen and Fan Li Zhui to face Poland. The Poles had two individual winners in their ranks – Kinga Drozdz and Adrian Castro, as well as Karolina Strawinska and Rafel Ziomek. 

Poland were determined to take the fight to China in a weapon with a strong history in the former. Drozdz and Castro duly delivered wins against Gu and Zhu, handing over to Strawinska for the last match with a two-point lead. 

With victory firmly in her sights, Strawinska saw off a charge from Ao including a lost video review to take her team to victory at 18-20. 

Hong Kong, China, also landed in the top three on Saturday with bronze. Sean Glass, Yuen Hing Kwong, Ka Man Lam and Nga Ting Tong got past South Korea to take the last podium place. 

Bradenton 2026 was the third Para fencing World Cup of the season and featured more than 170 athletes from 20 countries, including a debut for Kenya. Across four days, fencers have competed in individual events in men’s and women’s epee, foil and sabre and mixed team events across weapons. 

Coming next is the Under 23s World Championships, taking place as part of the World Abilitysport Youth Games, from 17-19 June.  

Qualification for the LA 2028 Paralympic Games begins in October with regional Championships in the Americas, Asia and Europe.