HEMA | Swordfish 2018 - Open Longsword FINALS

~ HEMA tee for pandemic times:

Sergey Kultaev vs Antoni Olbrychski [Men's Longsword Finals]
Introduction: 0:00
Round 1: 5:20
Round 2: 9:59
Awards: 14:38

"Sword of Destiny" music by Jillian Aversa:

Official GHFS channel:

FENCERS (BRONZE):
Matthys Kool (Historisch Vrijvechten Nederland)
Jimmy Olsson (Gothenburg Historical Fencing School)

FENCERS (GOLD):
Sergey Kultaev (Freifechtergilde):
Antoni Olbrychski (Akademia Szermierzy):

Excerpt from Swordfish 2018
Swordfish is the first and greatest annual event in Sweden for Historical European Martial Arts.

[thecensoredcrusader]

>Hears Witcher 3
SHIET

I completely missed the entire intro cause i have to go ham on that jam

[TurulHEMA]

I just love the video tags on this: katana, ninja, anime, manga, ghost of tsushima, japan, Japanese, for honor, etc. . .

[scaledsupremacy]

Steel for humans, silver for monsters.

[jammyjimson-jones]

It was sweet how Sergy only started smiling when he began talking about his daughter. Not just from winning the fights.

[binaryfission]

The form of these competitors is absolutely beautiful to watch. I really appreciate that HEMA is promoting these old forms of combat. Maybe i can get my wife interested, it would be really good exercise for us and goodness knows she has probably wanted to smack me with a sword more than once.

[jamesfraley]

This sport could really catch on... but it would need some improvements - like dozens of really good high speed cameras for slow-mo footage and better scoring based on a judge’s review of the actual damages that would be done by each strike. As is, it won’t become a popular spectator sport because it’s too fast & the severity of the strikes are not readily perceivable.

[lelushlamperush]

Красавчик Сергей, так держать. Особенно обрадовало такое уважительное отношение к оппоненту.

[geyotepilkington]

The reaction time of Sergey at 10:57 is incredible, that man was fighting for his life. What smooth transitions between parrying. That is true art, screw paintings d00d

[thomasvertommen]

I love that HEMA has been getting this kind of attention in recent years, and I hope it keeps going, but I have a huge gripe with these kinds of tournaments...
I suppose it's a matter of perspective, but I see HEMA and Historical Fencing like a simulation of a fight with either sharp weapons, where the idea is to disable or incapacitate your oponent without getting wounded, or as a simulation of the 17th century tradition of fighting "until the first bleeding cut" with blunt Federschwerter. Based on unarmoured combat of course.

Seeing this type of fighting is something that makes me cringe a little, with no disdain for these athletes' capacities I will add... but if those swords had been sharp, in 95% of the seen bouts, both contestants either would have been seriously wounded or maimed, or if it'd be with blunted swords and no armour (17th century blossfechten) then both would have broken limbs from the first rounds.


One reason why I dislike these types of tournaments, both with the scoring system as with the high degree of protection that is worn, is that it takes away most defensive incentive, and promotes reckless and indiscriminate attacks: hitting is more important than not being hit, while it should be the other way around in my opinion. Also, the intensity and how hard they hit each other is completely in conflict with the concept of the sword as a weapon.


It's partially the reason why at our club we fight with relatively little protection (mask, light leather or composite gloves, and a light jacket, like the SPES 350n Officer Jacket): first of all that you are more inclined to fight carefully for your own safety, and because you know your oponent is equally vulnerable, the scored hits are much lighter, craftier and elegant, while containing their historical "lethality" so to speak, since hypothetically, you really don't need a lot of force to mortally injure someone with a sharp sword. And so the sparring with blunt weapons should reflect that.
Otherwise it just becomes MMA with iron rods and it won't retain any of its historical accuracy and intention.

My point in short is: there's very few "clean" hits to be seen here. No matter how good your hit is, if you can't get out without being cut in return, your attack is as good as worthless. There shouldn't be this many double hits in a swordfight. For clarity: I fight in a Meyer-styled tradition of Blossfechten with minimal protection at Antwerp's Saint Michael's Guild, which isn't the most "orthodox" way of fighting in the HEMA-scene, and I know this opinion is far from new, and probably is not going to resonate with most HEMA-ists. Still, i hope it provides some food for thought.

[thestuffmonster]

Wow, collecting footage, photos, and information and editing it all together must’ve taken a while. Great job.

[ambuknight]

Love that the referees look like they're bartender's of a fancy club or stright up butlers

[markwei]

Compared to other Swordfish-Fights, this one seems to be the most intense and professional.
Very good fighters!

[DMRaptorJesus]

Love how much traction this wonderful sport has been getting these last few years.

[soldierbreakneck]

That was amazing! Great fight! Both showed really good technic! Congratulations for Sergey Kultaev!

[MrFox]

Сергей, поздравляю! Приятно смотреть. Красиво, предельно эффективно, по-рыцарски и видно, что для Вас это путь воина.

[johanesjoy]

One of the best and most satisfying longsolword match ever between Kuktaev and Olbrychski 👍👍👍

[alexvestok]

Очень красиво! Спасибо Сергею за вдохновляющий бой!

[SnowyFoxFox]

Thanks for sharing this! I've been wanting to see HEMA tournament coverage with this TV-like style of presentation. This is exactly the kind of thing I'd love to find more of.

[syyskuu]

Love how the fencer with the more "mature" style won. Much more satisfying than seeing the restless, snipey style of A.O. win. Of course no disrespect to the silver medalist either, it takes a lot to get to the finals.

[wagfinpis]

Sergey Kultaev looks to be on a whole other level from his competition here. If they take of the armor it is not even close. The other guy moves his hands all disconnect from his body movements, just trying to score points, and he is still contained. Sergey Kultaev is challenging his actual sword craft, delivering meaningful blows, while beating the other guy to the point. Very impressive difference between Sergey Kultaev, and the other guy.