René Pranz (born 4 August 1985) is an Austrian fencer, specialising in the

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ma ...

, who competed at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, held in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, Brazil.

Personal life

Pranz was born on 4 August 1985 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, Austria. He studied for a degree in economics and law at the

University of Salzburg The University of Salzburg (, ), also known as the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (''Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg'', PLUS), is an Austrian public university in Salzburg, Salzburg municipality, Salzburg (federal state), Salzburg State, ...

Fencing

At the 2006 European Fencing Championships in

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

, Turkey, Pranz was part of an Austrian squad that finished eighth in the team foil event. At the

2006 World Fencing Championships The 2006 World Fencing Championships were held at the Oval Lingotto in Turin, Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, ...

he placed 48th in the individual foil; in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

he was 64th, in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

he was 26th and in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

he finished 51st. At the

2011 European Fencing Championships The 2011 European Fencing Championships was the 24th edition and was held in Sheffield, United Kingdom. The event took place from July 13–19, 2011. Schedule Medal summary Men's events Women's events Medal table Results overview Men F ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, United Kingdom, he placed seventh in the individual foil. The same year he finished 44th in the individual event at 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 ...

. At the 2013 World Championships he finished 39th. He competed at the 2013 Summer Universiade games held in

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

, Russia. In the individual foil he defeated Noriyuki Nagashima of Japan 15–13 in the round of 64 and then Italy's Tobia Biondo 15–13 in the last 32, before being eliminated in the round of 16 after an 11–15 defeat to Italian Daniele Garozzo. Pranz placed 28th in the individual foil at the

2014 World Fencing Championships The 2014 World Fencing Championships were held in Kazan, Russia, from 15–23 July. Schedule The schedule of the competition. Medal summary Men's events Women's events Medal table References External links Official website
{{Worl ...

and was 55th at the 2015 championships. He competed at the

2015 European Games The 1st European Games (), also known as the 2015 European Games or Baku 2015 (), were the inaugural edition of the European Games, an international multi-sport event for athletes representing the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of the Europe ...

held in

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, Azerbaijan. Competing in Pool B of the men's foil he won all five of his pool matches to advance to the round of 16 where he was eliminated after losing 8–15 to Dmitry Zherebchenko of Russia. In April 2016 Pranz defeated Turkish fencer Martino Minuto in the final of the European Olympic zonal qualification tournament held in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, Czech Republic. This result qualified him as part of the Austrian team for the

held in

, Brazil, where he competed in the men's individual foil event. Pranz is the only Austrian fencer to have qualified for Rio. He was eliminated by Brazilian fencer Guilherme Toldo in the round of 64.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pranz, Rene Living people 1985 births Austrian foil fencers Fencers from Vienna University of Salzburg alumni Fencers at the 2015 European Games Olympic fencers for Austria Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Austrian male fencers European Games competitors for Austria 21st-century Austrian sportsmen