Yuval Freilich

Yuval Shalom Freilich (; born 24 January 1995) is an Israeli left-handed épée fencer, ranked 9th in the world in 2023–24. His parents Gabby (a radiologist) and Rachel Freilich had emigrated to Israel from Sydney, Australia, and he has three brothers and two sisters; he is the second-youngest of the six siblings. He grew up loving dancing, and especially tap dancing. He later attended Open University of Israel in Netanya, Israel, studying law, and IDC Herzliya (now known as Reichman University), where he double majored in Law and Government and was later inducted into the Reichman University Sports Hall of Fame. His coach starting in 2009 was Ohad Balva, he was laterd coached by Alexander Ivanov, and he is now coached by Angelo Mazzoni), and his club is Hapoel Kfar Saba. In a typical week, he has four or five lessons with a coach, three fitness sessions, and three or four fencing training sessions of up to an hour and a half. In 2010 he was named one of the Top 10 U-20 Israeli Athletes, by Israeli news website Ynet. Also that year, in Croatia, he led the Israeli team to a gold medal in the European Team Championships. In addition, in December 2012 he won a bronze medal in the junior épée Young Lions World Cup in Espoo, Finland, behind Sergey Bida and Lorenzo Buzzi, in a competition with 170 fencers.

In March 2014 Freilich won the European Men's Épée Junior Championship in Jerusalem, Israel, in a competition with 254 fencers.

In April 2014 Freilich came in 6th at the World Men's Épée Junior Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in a competition with 114 fencers.

In March 2015 Freilich again won the European Men's Épée Junior Championship, this time in Maribor, Slovenia, in a competition with 115 fencers. In 2015 he was the #1 ranked junior épée fencer in the world.

2016–present; European champion In February 2016 he won a Men's Épée bronze medal at the Peter Bakonyi World Cup in Vancouver, Canada, in a competition with 192 fencers.

In May 2018, he won a silver medal in individual men's épée at the Coppa Citta di Lugano in Lugano, Switzerland.

On June 18, 2019, Freilich won Israel's first European fencing title in the men's individual épée tournament at the 2019 European Fencing Championships in Düsseldorf, Germany. He turned his garden into his own private gym, and trained twice a day, including exercises such as yoga and meditation that he wouldn't usually do during the regular season.

In January 2024, Freilich won the gold medal at the 2024 Épée Grand Prix event in Doha, Qatar, in an event with 276 fencers. He did so in the Arab country that does not have diplomatic ties with Israel, while wearing a fencing uniform with an Israeli flag. He was the first Israeli to win a fencing Grand Prix. At the time, he was ranked #8 in the world in men's épée. He was the first Israeli man to qualify in épée for an Olympics.

Medal record

European Championship

World Cup

Grand Prix