The tournament pool round where everyone fences everyone — usually to 5 hits. The direct elimination that follows goes to 15.
\"How was your poule?\" is the first question anyone asks on a competition day — and nobody ever explains it. The poule is the opening round in small groups where everyone fences everyone, usually to 5 hits; the results produce the seeding for the direct elimination, which is fought to 15. The difference is physical, not just administrative: in elite foil fencers the distance covered came to around 163 metres per bout in the poule against roughly 460 metres in direct elimination, with heart rates of 163 versus 170 beats per minute. Which is why the classic beginner's error is treating the poule as an extended warm-up and arriving at the knockout stage empty. Plan the day the other way round: drink early and regularly, take the mask off between bouts, find shade. The poule decides how much tank you carry into the elimination rounds.