The Estonian women's epee team famously took gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021 due to the pandemic, while Kristina Lehis won bronze in the individual category at the same games.

From among Estonian competitors at the Budapest grand prix, five women and two men made it through qualification to the main event, with Kirpu ultimately placing highest overall (eighth), after narrowly losing 15;14 to local fencer Anna Kun in the quarter finals

Kirpu defeated had beaten Gala Hess Sancho of Germany in the round of 64, Auriane Mallo-Breton (France) in the round of 32 and Aizana Murtazayeva (Russia) in the round of 16.

Meanwhile Kirpu's teammates Nelli Differt and Irina Embrich won their round of 64 matches, but Embrich was defeated by Alexandra Louis Marie (France) in the round of 32.

Differt made it one level further, going down to Yiwen Sun 15:13 in the round of 16. However, this progress was sufficient for her to also secure a place in the individual epee tournament at the Paris Olympics, and put her ninth in the Budapest competition overall.

Embrich placed 25th place overall, while two other members of the legendary 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medal-winning women's epee team, Katrina Lehis and Julia Beljajeva, went out in round on.

Male fencers Sten Priinits and Markus Salm also qualified for the main tournament, but went out in round one: In Priinits case, in a 15:9 loss to Kazuyasu Minobe (Japan), while Salm went out 15:11 against Zsombor Keszthely (Hungary).

The Paris Olympics take place July to August this year.

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