Research particularly focusing on male athletes and popular sports (running and 
soccer) suggests associations of lower (masculinized) second-to-fourth digit 
ratio (2D:4D), a putative marker of prenatal androgen action, with better sports 
performance. Studies focusing on women, non-mainstream sports, or controlling 
for covariates relevant for sporting success are still sparse. This study 
examined associations between 2D:4D and performance of both male and female 
athletes active in fencing (a non-mainstream sport dominated by male 
participants), while controlling for covariates. National fencing rankings and 
2D:4D of 58 male and 41 female Austrian tournament fencers (mean age 24 years) 
were correlated. Among female, but not male, fencers, lower 2D:4D was related to 
better national fencing rankings. 2D:4D still accounted for incremental variance 
(12%) in fencing success, when the effects of salient performance factors (age, 
body mass index, years of fencing, training intensity, and the personality 
variables achievement, control, harm avoidance, and social potency) were 
controlled for (totaling 35% attributable variance). Athletes active in the most 
aggressive form (the sabre) had lower 2D:4D than those active in the other forms 
(épée and foil fencing). Sporting success in adult life might be partly 
prenatally programmed via long-lasting extragenital effects of testosterone.