Bianca Del Carretto (born 28 August 1985) is an Italian

épée The ( or , ), sometimes spelled epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from the 19th-century , a weapon which itself derives from the French small sword. This contain ...

fencer, European champion in 2014 and team World champion in 2009.

Career

Del Carretto learnt fencing at Club Scherma

Rapallo Rapallo ( , , ) is a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, located in the Liguria region of northern Italy. As of 2017 it had 29,778 inhabitants. It lies on the Ligurian Sea coast, on the Tigullio Gulf, between Portofino and Chiav ...

under Roberto Cirillo. Her first international significant result was a team gold in the 2002 Junior European Championships in

Conegliano Conegliano (; Venetian: ''Conejan'') is a town and ''comune'' of the Veneto region, Italy, in the province of Treviso, about north by rail from the town of Treviso. The population of the city is of people. The remains of a 10th-century castle a ...

. In 2003, she took a bronze medal in the individual event and a silver medal in the team event at the Junior European Championships in Porec. The same year, she earned a team bronze medal in the Senior European Championships in

Bourges Bourges () is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre. It is the capital of the department of Cher, and also was the capital city of the former province of Berry. History The name of the commune derives either from the Bituriges, ...

. In 2004, she came away with a silver medal in the Junior World Championships in Plovdiv after being defeated in the final by Romania's

Ana Maria Brânză Ana Maria Popescu, formerly known as Ana Maria Brânză (, born 26 November 1984), is a Romanian left-handed épée fencer. Popescu is a four-time team European champion, 2013 individual European champion, and two-time team world champion. A ...

. In her senior career, she proved a reliable team member and contributed to Italy's several podium placings. In 2009, along with Cristiana Cascioli, Nathalie Moellhausen, and

Francesca Quondamcarlo Francesca Quondamcarlo (; born 21 August 1984) is an Italian épée fencer. She won a gold medal with Italy in the 2009 World Fencing Championships and a silver medal in the 2013 European Fencing Championships The 2013 European Fencing Championsh ...

, she earned an historical gold medal for Italy in the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Antalya Antalya () is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish city on the Mediterranean coast outside the Ae ...

. The following season, she climbed her first podium in the

Fencing World Cup The FIE Fencing World Cup is an international fencing competition held by the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime. In each weapon (Men's and Women's Épée, Sabre and Foil (fencing), Foil), three Grand Prix, five World Cup events and several sat ...

with a third place in the Doha Grand Prix, followed by another bronze at Luxemburg. In the 2010–11 season, Del Carretto won the Havana Grand Prix and earned a bronze medal in Nanjing. These placings allowed her to finish the year No.3 in world rankings, a career best as of 2014, despite her 2nd-round elimination at the

in Catania by the hands of Ana Maria Brânză, who eventually won the bronze medal. In the team event, Italy were stopped in the semi-final by China, but defeated Germany to earn a bronze medal. Del Carretto competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the Women's épée, but was defeated in the second round by reigning Olympic champion

Britta Heidemann Britta Heidemann (born 22 December 1982) is a German épée fencer. In 2016, Heidemann became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Career Épée Fencing At the age of 14, already being a successful athlete and swimmer, Brit ...

. Poor performances in the World Cup, her best placing being a quarter-final in Havana, caused a drop to No.27 in world rankings.

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

was also a meagre year despite a bronze medal in the Xuzhou Grand Prix. Del Carretto then transferred to C.S. Aeronautica Militare, with Andrea Candiani as new coach, and moved from Legnano to Milan. During the 2013–14 season, Del Carretto dislocated her weapon shoulder during a training camp and stayed incapacitated for a month. She arrived with a No.44 ranking to the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

. She was seeded fourth out of pools and received a bye in the table of 32. She then defeated Poland's

Magdalena Piekarska Magdalena Piekarska (born 28 November 1986) is a Polish fencer. She competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport e ...

, teammate

, and World No.1

Emese Szász Emese (fl. 9th century CE) was the daughter of Prince Önedbelia of Dentumoger, the consort of the Scythian (i.e. from Dentumoger, Scythia) lord Ügyek, and the mother of High Prince Álmos in Hungarian historical mythology; thus, she was the a ...

to reach the semi-finals. She disposed 15–13 of host France's

Joséphine Jacques-André-Coquin Joséphine Jacques-André-Coquin (born 21 September 1990) is a French right-handed épée The ( or , ), sometimes spelled epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from ...

in the semi-final, then beat 15–12 another Frenchwoman,

Marie-Florence Candassamy Marie-Florence Candassamy (born 26 February 1991) is a French right-handed épée The ( or , ), sometimes spelled epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from the 19 ...

, to come away with Italy's first European individual gold medal since Elisa Uga at Plovdiv in 1998. In the team event, Del Carretto's Italy were overcome 24–29 in the semi-final by Romania, who eventually won the gold medal. Italy met 2013 European champions Estonia in the match for the third place and won 45–42.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Del Carretto, Bianca Italian female fencers Italian épée fencers Living people Olympic fencers for Italy Fencers at the 2012 Summer Olympics 1985 births Fencers of Centro Sportivo Aeronautica Militare 20th-century Italian women 21st-century Italian women People from Rapallo