[GOLD] Balzer v Eifler World Championship Final HK2026

Get ready for a fast start here. Bowser's going to need to start better than she did in the semi. She will know that Larissa Eifler is having an incredible day. Larissa Eifler actually defeated the Olympic champion, Manon Aperty. And beat Bowser to that gold in Paris. And they're underway, Jeff. And Bowser looking better than she did against Tory in the middle there. She got the exact same action that we saw, but this time she was successful. And Eifler is on a magical mystery tour. Best day of her career. Can she finish it out with the gold? For those of you who remember in Paris, just the look of disappointment on Bowser's face when she took the silver. I'm sure she's thinking about saying, I don't want to feel that way again. Today is my day. Again, eyes open from Bowser. Eifler moves back. Bowser gets the long attack. And finishes nicely at the end of the piece. Eifler flummoxed there. Looked over immediately at the coach. Two touches in. What do I do? Don't do that. Again. Stuttering from Eifler. Bowser coming off the line and then just seeing what the German is doing. Did that stop there? When Allee is called, Bowser is stationary. Yes. He's ready. Wow. She's waiting to see. Wait and see what your opponent does. Again. Inviting the attack on. Beating at the distance. I didn't finish that time. Perfectly calling halt. The spool isn't spooling. Meanwhile, this is spiraling quickly here. Eifler has to get her sea legs immediately. And Bowser has been controlling the dance. If you remember in the semis, it was Eifler who was controlling the dance in the middle of the piece. She needs to get a touch immediately. That smile that she had, that big white smile when she came on, is gone. It started on the second action, looking over at the coach. First point for Germany. Szabo, the coach. Eifler was quick on her feet, especially in the middle. And she needs to utilize that. She was too quick on her feet that time because her hand was back and she just came forward. There's only one light on. You know what I'm saying? Because she came back so quickly with her arm back. So here's the quicker footwork. That's what she needs to do here. Bowser was controlling the tempo. And now Eifler has to try to do that with her. She's a little fleet of her foot. Yeah, Bowser trying to use that distance trap. And Bowser just signaling to the referee. It was the German's point. Oh, again, distance trap works. Now, Bowser, can she finish it? Did everything right. Pulled Eifler short and then pushed her and pushed her and pushed her. Finally attacked here. And why did she miss? Just missed. Yeah, well, it was kind of like a counter to the wrist. And then Bowser couldn't land quick enough. So Eifler is clawing her way, attempting to claw her way back into this bout. 5-0 is now 6-3. That's the third time we've seen Bowser counterattack here since the 5-0 lead. And we saw that in the semifinals as well. Yes, against Tourie, that's a losing tactic for her. Now this one, there was a little shake and bake there by Eifler. There's a possibility Bowser still might get this one. Let's see what the referees pull. She's on a 4-0 run and this bout has completely changed around. Eifler has to keep her quick footwork going. Very quick footwork indeed. Stamp of the foot from Sara Bowser. As you called it in the semifinals, it's a step, a step, and a lunge. That's how she's preparing this action. Straight attack. Bowser is short. She's now sort of in quicksand and hasn't been able to figure it out. So we have had two bouts within this bout already. 5-0 and now 6-6. And Bowser has to figure out a way to negate the foot speed. Get out of the middle. Try to draw her short. She was successful in the semifinals against Tourie with that. Yeah, that's better. Now Bowser's right of way. And misses. Because she turned. She turned her back. She thought she'd scored. She did that once earlier today in the quarterfinals. Same thing? Same thing. Turned her back. She was so convinced that she'd hit. But she turned her back. She hit the guard there. Yes, she turned. And acknowledged by Eifler. So she climbed... We always talk about this. She climbed the hill, tied the score, didn't take the lead. Let's see if Bowser can go into the break with the lead. This one might go the other way because Eifler came forward and stopped. And it's possible this one gets reversed. Let's see the replay. Stop. You know something? When you slow it down like that, it looks like Bowser stopped also, which gives the attack the chance to recommence. And that's what happened. So, it's close. Yeah. And you know something? Bowser is making a tactical error. She's fighting these actions in the middle like that. It's not working for her. She needs to draw the attack short and then try to push down the piece. It might be seven apiece. But Bowser's on a yellow card. She's burned both the video reviews. And the momentum is with the German. Incredible. What a turn of events here. Didn't see it coming. The body language on Eifler was down when she was down 2-0. And when it became 5-0, I said, it's about to spiral away. And then something changed. And one of the things that changed is that the quicker footwork, the attack's in the middle. You know what happened? The spool. You did talk about the spool. The spool. It is the spool. And that just gave us some kind of thinking time. You did call that at the time. Yeah. The spool, yeah. So, okay. Forget the spool. Now we have a minute break. And let's figure out. You always like to figure out, okay, it's gone one way. Now it's Eifler. What does Bowser have to do? Well, you know what she does best. She just has to go back to doing that. And then try to push. But what she has to stop doing is giving away touches in the middle, trying to attack in preparation because Eifler's too quick, and she's scoring. Slap in the face. She was looking glum before, but she's turned that frown upside down. Here we go with the second period. Bowser going eyes open again. And Eifler takes the first point after the break. Pushing. Drawing out Bowser here. Makes the parry and the riposte. Yeah. Well, Bowser won a point in the semis against her teammate Tori when she got the line out. Straight attack. And this bout is winning for Eifler on footwork. You said in the first half that she has the quicker footwork, and she started picking it up. And now when you look at dejected body language, it's on the left side of the piece. Can Bowser figure it out? Step forward and look for the blade. A weapon change. The mask is off. Watch Bowser look for the blade. Didn't get it. So we are on an 11-2 run here for Eifler. Unprecedented. It happens so quickly. The touches come in bunches, and the wave is like a tsunami. It's hard to stop. I think this next point is crucial. If Bowser is going to turn it around, it needs to be now. She's not coming back from that 12-7 deficit. What's she going to do? Again, stops. Bowser now picking up the right of way. And finishes. That's what she does well. That's what she does best. That's what she does best, and now she's going to have to try to do it again, and Eifler is going to have to try to prevent her from doing that again. Go forward, says the coach. Short from Bowser. Once she was short, she was a dead duck, because Eifler was able to push her back to her end of the piece. She took a parry here, but the right line, right onto the mask. This time Bowser is looking over at the box for assistance from the coach. She's going to go to Eifler, and it does. Her footwork is reigning supreme, and it's brought her to within two touches of the World Championship. Bowser has to figure out a way to negate it. Well, just plain going backwards is not working for Bowser. One step back maybe, but once it's more than that, it doesn't work. That's better. That was attack from the left. She stopped a little hop, and then she took over. Whatever you do, no counter-attacks in the middle for Bowser. She got the message from the coach. Did Larissa Eifler that? Go forward. And the German just won away from clinching the gold medal. Larissa Eifler is set to be the best ever. From Germany. Could be it. Oh, nice defense from Bowser. Right idea by Eifler. She just needs one. It's the hardest. The hardest to score, isn't it? There it is. Clear as day. Larissa Eifler is the world champion, and who would have thought that coming in to this competition? She has absolutely nailed it today. She took out the Olympic champion, Manon Aperty, and then has now taken out the Olympic silver medalist, Sarah Bowser. And she is now the most successful woman in the world.