Evgeny Strzhalkovsky: How Local Clubs Confidently Outpaced the French, Italians and Serbs

While the audience focused on the dramatic clashes on the lists, the backstage of the “Sword of Russia” tournament had its own, sometimes equally tense dynamic — especially once the final results became clear. One of the experts who offered a detailed breakdown was Evgeny Strzhalkovsky, founder of the Bern club. His school formed the core of this season’s strongest teams.

According to Strzhalkovsky, Historical Medieval Battle (HMB) has long become a fully developed sport that demands not only physical strength but also coordinated teamwork. Spectators often don’t realize how heavy the armour is or how much effort each movement requires. “These are full-contact bouts in armour weighing around 25 kilograms, fought with blunted but heavy weapons — swords, axes, halberds,” he explained. He also noted that HMB originated in Russia and is now officially recognized as a sport in multiple countries.

Although knightly combat is typically viewed as a male domain, Strzhalkovsky emphasizes that HMB has no gender restrictions — women’s bouts show no less intensity. “In the women’s category, first place went to Alfyn from St. Petersburg (10 points). Second place went to Bern from Moscow (also 10 points). Third place went to Bayard with 1 point. In the men’s five-on-five division, gold went to Partizan from Moscow (35 points). Silver went to Starye Druzia from St. Petersburg (27.5), and third place went to Bayard (26.5),” he said.

Partizan and Starye Druzia both represent the same club, which, according to Strzhalkovsky, makes their confident leadership unsurprising. Bern has spent decades developing strategies for large-scale clashes, and this year’s gap from the competition turned out to be record-setting. He added that teams placed fifth through sixteenth scored between 1.5 and 19.5 points — far behind the leaders.

“In the 12-on-12 mass battles, all podium spots also went to Russian teams. The Italians, French and Serbs from Bande Nere placed sixth,” Strzhalkovsky noted, highlighting the consistent advantage of Russian fighters across nearly all key disciplines.

Amid the discussions of the Russian fighters’ success, many recalled a far less fortunate outcome for another national team — the football squad. On 15 November, Russia lost 0:2 to Chile in a friendly match at Fisht Stadium in Sochi, leaving fans hoping for better results in at least some other sporting arenas.