Sabre: cuts and thrusts above the hips, with priority.

Cuts and thrusts

Sabre is a weapon for thrusting and for cutting with the cutting edge and the back of the blade. Hits made with the cutting edge, the flat or the back of the blade all count, as do hits with the point (t.96.1 and t.96.2). Three further rules shape what counts:

• Hitting with the guard is forbidden. Such hits are annulled and penalised as a 1st-group offence (t.96.3).
• Hits "through the blade", touching the opponent's sabre and the valid target at the same time, are valid when they clearly arrive on the target (t.96.4).
• Under the Material Rules (August 2026, Annexe B), a blade whipping over the opponent's blade or guard must not register.

The valid target

The sabre target is any part of the body above a horizontal line drawn between the tops of the hip bones and around the trunk (t.97.2). Covering or substituting the target is forbidden, and any hit by the fencer at fault is annulled (t.97).

To make that target register, the sabre conductive jacket covers the whole valid surface above the hip line in the on-guard position and the arms to the wrists (Material Rules, August 2026, m.34.1 and m.34.2), and the sabre mask is conductive: its mesh is not insulated and its bib is covered with conductive material matching the jacket (m.32.1 to m.32.3).

A hit off the target

At sabre, a hit on a non-valid area is not registered by the apparatus, does not stop the phrase and does not annul any later hit (t.98). At foil the same off-target hit stops everything (see foil).

Priority: the sabre conventions

At sabre the referee alone decides validity and priority, by applying the sabre conventions (t.100). As the rules state the principle (t.101 to t.106):

• A properly executed attack must be parried or completely avoided (t.101).
• The attack is correct when the arm is straightening, with the point or edge continuously threatening the target, before the lunge begins. The sabre rules add that the hit must arrive at the latest when the front foot lands (t.101.1 to t.101.4).
• When a parry is properly executed, the attack is declared parried even if, through the flexibility of the blade, the tip still touches the target (t.105.2.b).

When both fencers are hit

As at foil, the rules divide double touches into two kinds (t.106). In a simultaneous action both hits are annulled. A double hit results from a clearly faulty action by one fencer, and only that fencer is counted hit; the rules list the faults for the attacked fencer and for the attacker. If the referee cannot see where the fault lies, the fencers are put back on guard.

The fleche ban

At sabre the fleche, and any forward movement in which the rear foot completely passes the front foot, is forbidden. It is a 1st-group offence, and any hit by the fencer at fault is annulled (t.101.5). The foil rules, by contrast, name the fleche as one way a foil attack can begin (t.83). The FIE Congress of 22 November 2025 also adopted a rule that at foil and sabre fencers may not come on guard in the "in line" position (t.22 as renumbered); a clean 2026 edition of the Technical Rules could not be opened to confirm the final wording.

What stops the action

Sabre has no spring tip. A hit registers when any uninsulated part of the sabre touches the conductive surface of the opponent's equipment (Material Rules, August 2026, m.24.4 and Annexe B). The equipment side is covered in the scoring equipment.

The weapon and the glove

Under the FIE Material Rules (August 2026), a sabre is no more than 105 cm long overall (m.21) and weighs less than 500 g ready for use (m.22). Its blade is approximately rectangular in section and no more than 88 cm long (m.23.1), and any curve must be continuous with a deflection under 4 cm (m.23.3).

Sabre also has its own glove rule. The FIE requires a sabre glove of 800 N, with 200 N seams and a 350 N cuff (m.33.1). USA Fencing's Athlete Handbook 2026-2027 requires 800 N gloves at sabre at all levels of competition, and British Fencing requires a sabre glove with the FIE 800 N label for general training and its own competitions, while its beginner and under-14 activities allow any fencing glove (Equipment by Activity, updated 2 October 2026). Whether a glove or weapon conforms is for the rules, the armourer and the competition's weapon control to decide.

Maraging sabre blades: the date given three ways

The FIE's August 2026 Material Rules make maraging steel blades obligatory at all three weapons (m.2.1). When that began for sabre is reported differently. The FIE's July 2020 Material Rules (archived copy) set the start of the 2020-2021 season, then postponed the obligation to September 2021, with maraging and non-maraging sabre blades both allowed until 31 August 2021. British Fencing's January 2020 summary gives 2020-2021, and British Fencing's equipment page (updated 13 March 2026) says sabre blades stamped only "M" were accepted until September 2022, with full FIE marking required after that. One blade maker states that the FIE required maraging sabre blades after the Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021. More on blades and maraging steel.

Where sabre comes from

Olympedia traces the sabre to 18th-century cavalry sabres. British Fencing's history, by Malcolm Fare, says it derives from military swordsmanship, that an Italian master developed a lightweight sporting sabre in the late 19th century, and that the whole body was originally the target until the FIE adopted the modern target after the First World War. The FIE's Sabre Rules were adopted on 12 June 1914 under Dr Bela Nagy, President of the Hungarian federation, following the Hungarian and Ostend rules (FIE Rules, Introduction, i.4).

Who shaped the Hungarian style is disputed. Olympedia credits the Italian master Italo Santelli, recruited to teach sabre in Budapest in 1896; Wikipedia's article on Laszlo Borsody credits Borsody's rival system (unconfirmed). The date electric scoring came to sabre also differs by source: 1986 according to British Fencing, 1988 for the FIE's electrical sabre rules (FIE historical note, i.4.3), and Barcelona 1992 for the first Olympics (Olympedia). Women's individual sabre joined the Olympics at Athens 2004 (Olympedia) and women's team sabre at Beijing 2008 (Wikipedia).

Wheelchair sabre

Wheelchair sabre keeps the standing target above the hip line, and an off-target hit does not stop the phrase (IWAS Wheelchair Fencing Technical Rules, January 2018, t.71 and t.72). It keeps priority, with the rule that a correct attack's hit must arrive at the latest at the end of the lunge (t.75). See wheelchair fencing.