Does height matter in fencing, and which weapon is best if you're short?
Height helps, but far less than most people think, and it matters most at the two ends of the sport. Among beginners it works like a shortcut: a tall fencer can stand back and hit before a newer, shorter opponent gets in range, without needing much skill. Among Olympic-level fencers, where everyone is skilled, every physical edge counts. In between, at club and regional level, footwork, timing and distance control decide far more bouts than arm length. Fencers of every height win at every level, and several recent Olympic champions have been noticeably shorter than their rivals.
No weapon cancels out height, and experienced fencers genuinely disagree about which is kindest to short fencers. Conventional wisdom calls épée a tall person's weapon, yet the results at the top do not bear that out strongly. The hand and wrist are valid targets in épée, and the distance to your opponent's wrist is roughly the same for both of you, so short épéeists often fence the hand and forearm. In foil the target is only the torso, which rewards reach, but right-of-way lets a quicker fencer attack and get into close quarters where long arms are awkward. Sabre scores with cuts on the arms and head as well as the body, although many top sabre fencers are very tall.
So pick the weapon you enjoy and the one your club teaches well, not the one a height chart suggests. Switching weapons purely to escape a reach problem rarely helps, because the same distance problem follows you. What does help short fencers in every weapon is movement: frequent changes of direction and rhythm, stepping in and out of range rather than sitting just inside the taller fencer's reach, drawing their attack so it falls short, then hitting back. Strong, quick footwork is the short fencer's real advantage.
If you are aiming for national team selection, height is one factor among many, alongside talent, training and years of experience, and short fencers do reach the top. For everyone else, it is mostly a reason to learn distance well. Taller fencers who lean on their reach early often have to relearn footwork later, while shorter fencers are forced to learn it from day one.