Olga Kharlan (UKR) defeated Aleksandra Socha (POL) 15-10 to take the 2011 European Championship in Women’s Sabre. In doing so, she also kept ahead of rival Mariel Zagunis (USA) in the Adjusted Olympic Rankings* that will be used for Olympic Qualification in women’s sabre. Zagunis still tops the FIE World Rankings and will retain the top seed heading into the 2011 World Championships.
The win by Kharlan puts her ahead of Sophia Velikaia (RUS) in the current FIE World Rankings heading into the World Championships. Velikaia finished 11th in the European Championship event.
With only the individual event being fenced in the 2012 Olympics, the various zonal events hold great importance for both seeding into the world championships and for ranking in the AOR (Adjusted Olympic Rankings) for qualification. The three zonal champions (Mariel Zagunis, USA; Olga Kharlan, UKR; Min Zhu, CHN) all hold top spots to head their zones while Africa only has one fencer (Azza Besbes, TUN) with AOR points.
2011 European Championships: Women’s Sabre Top 8
| Rank | Name | Nationality |
| 1 | KHARLAN Olga | UKR |
| 2 | SOCHA Aleksandra | POL |
| 3 | GAVRILOVA Julia | RUS |
| 3 | PUNDYK Galyna | UKR |
| 5 | BENKO Reka | HUN |
| 6 | MARZOCCA Gioia | ITA |
| 7 | VOUGIOUKA Vassiliki | GRE |
| 8 | PERRUS Leonore | FRA |
* The Adjusted Olympic Rankings (AOR) are the FIE points earned at events that will count for 2012 Olympic Qualification only. These are the FIE points earned at events between April 1, 2011 and March 31, 2012. As such, the AOR does not include past events like the 2010 World Championships which is why there is variation between the AOR and the FIE rolling rankings.
