The use of protective devices by athletes has reduced the incidence of injuries during fencing competition and training. Nevertheless not only the physicians who act as medical supervisors of fencing competitions, but also the trainers have to know the incidence of fencing injuries and their severity in order to be able to prevent and manage them. The purpose of the present study was to estimate the incidence of injuries in a new fencing competition: the Under 23 European Championship. Methods: Data were collected during the First edition of the Under 23 European Fencing Championship held in Monza, Italy, from the 9th to the 11th of May 2008. The mean (±SD) age of athletes was 20.7±1.7 years. Injury was defined as a request for medical attention. Athlete Exposure (AE) represents the opportunity for one athlete to incur an injury and was calculated by doubling the number of contested bouts, as indicated on the of ficial organizational spreadsheets, for each event. No differentiation was made between pool bouts and direct elimination bouts. Rate was calculated per 1,000 AE. All the injuries were evaluated and treated by the sports medicine staff of the competition, who had to complete a report on each injury. Results: Table 1 shows the incidencies of injuries in the different fencing specialities: foil male (FM) and female (FF); sabre male (SM) and female (SF); epee male (EM) and female (EF). The 11 injuries (requests for medical attention) were classi fied as: i) injuries due to opponent`s weapon: 5 cases (45%) including 4 finger`s wounds (36%) and 1 shoulder`s abrasion (9%); ii) other injuries: 3 ankle sprain (27%; 2 relapses), 2 epistaxis (18%) and 1 lumbar contusion (9%). No bouts were cancelled due to these injuries. No injuries were due to broken blades. Conclusions: The data of the present study indicate that the new Under 23 fencing competitions have a very low risk of accident and injury. The most frequent sites of injuries were the fingers and the ankles. Right technique, adequate training and functional recovery after injury can help prevent these injuries
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