Timur Safin

Safin, who is of Tatar descent,^[2] took up fencing when he was nine years old after a coach came to make a presentation at his school.^[3] He specialized in foil, joining the junior Russian team in 2009. He earned an individual bronze medal and a team silver medal in the 2011 U23 European Championships in Kazan. He won a team silver medal in the 2012 Junior European Championships and was crowned Junior World champion the same year in Moscow.^[3]

In the senior category, he made his breakthrough in the 2013–14 season. He won the Challenge Revenu after defeating in the final team Olympic champion Andrea Baldini.^[4] At the 2014 European Championships in Strasbourg, he was defeated in the table of 16 by eventual gold winner James-Andrew Davis, and in the team event he helped Russia conquer a bronze medal. In the 2014 World Championships in Kazan he made his way to the semifinals, defeating along the way German champion Peter Joppich. He lost by a single hit to world no.1 Ma Jianfei of China and came away with a bronze medal. For this performance he was named breakthrough of the year by the Russian Fencing Federation.^[5]