Fencing. With European champions Guarrigue and Lacheray, the young French players at the World Championships without pressure

Don't talk to them about "defending their status." After seizing their opportunity at the European Championships, new names in French fencing, like Eva Lacheray and Rémi Garrigue, are heading toward the World Championships in Georgia on Tuesday with enthusiasm but without pressure.

After "two slightly quieter weeks," a short break and a return to training, the Orléans native had "time to really take in" the title he won a month earlier. The 20-year-old sabre fencer, already a strong team competitor throughout the season, took center stage in Italy, in a weapon where his compatriots Sébastien (world No. 1) and Jean-Philippe Patrice were more expected. All this while beating triple Hungarian Olympic champion Aron Szilagyi in the final.

"It allowed me to show that I was capable of beating the best," said the satisfied player, winner of his first major senior title.

Now expected in Georgia, the world number 13 remains calm: "the state of mind for approaching (the world championships) will not be different, I am going there for a medal, but it is only at the end of the dance that we pay the musicians."

Her compatriot Eva Lacheray , crowned in foil and who will also be competing in her first World Cup, is even more categorical: "The coaches spoke to me a little about it, telling me not to put pressure on myself for a status, but I'm very far from that kind of idea!"

"I hear a lot about the European champion title, if that scares my opponents, so much the better, but it doesn't change anything for me, I have nothing to defend," adds the woman who brought home two of the three French foil medals last month (2nd in the team event) when, in the men's event, Anas Anane, 21, also distinguished himself by winning silver.

Having returned disappointed from the Paris Olympics (round of 16 in the individual category, first round in the team category), the 25-year-old foil fencer has above all confirmed a rise in power already characterised by her first personal World Cup podium in Cairo in March.

"She is perfectly capable of having the same high standards, the same rigor throughout a whole day," assures the coach of the French team, Yann Detienne. "These World Championships come at the right time for her to be able to express herself again," even if the task will be more difficult with the presence, among others, of the world number one and double American Olympic champion Lee Kiefer.

"It's the competition everyone is waiting for, the one we prepare for all year. I was really happy to have won, but it was just a step," adds Sarah Noutcha, who also lived up to expectations by becoming European sabre champion after a season in which she often placed well.

"She's someone I really see evolving from year to year," agrees her coach Mathieu Gourdain, "and even more so this year (...) At the European Championships, there wasn't a single piece of paper for the opponent, she never let up."

Mathieu Gourdain also admits that he saw the sabre fencer "achieve many of the things expected last year when she was already strong, in understanding the game, the psychology of her opponents, and the timing to make an effort." All these elements could allow her to make another splash in Tbilisi.