HEMAlympics returns to Zürich with multi-game team format

Zürich’s HEMAlympics returned with a format that put the bracket on its head. At Kantonsschule Hottingen, The Bunny Hop split fencers into groups of four to five and sent them through roughly eight HEMA-based games, turning the fifth edition into a team race for first place rather than a standard weapon-by-weapon elimination.

That shift mattered from the first bout onward. Instead of preparing for a single weapon draw and a straightforward path through a tableau, competitors had to stay versatile, move quickly between tasks, and think as a unit across a Saturday schedule that opened the hall at 08:30 and ended with the awards ceremony at 17:00. The structure gave Zurich’s stop on the HEMA calendar a different rhythm from the usual longsword or sabre tournament weekend: part competition, part athletic test, part social event.

The event was built to pull in a wider field. SwissHema identified the HEMAlympics as the fifth edition and said it was meant for all levels, with no special experience required beyond knowing what HEMA is and how to hold a sword. HADU, the organizing club, set the Saturday fee at CHF 20 for internal members and CHF 30 for external participants, while Sunday workshops cost CHF 60. That pricing, along with the mixed-format design, pointed to an event that wanted breadth of entry rather than an elite-only field.

Sunday shifted away from the games and into instruction. HADU listed three workshops, quarterstaff, wrestling, and longsword, plus free fencing time. The combination reinforced the event’s broader pitch: Zurich was not just hosting a tournament, it was staging a sample of the discipline’s range, from weapon work to close-quarters grappling.

HADU’s roots help explain why the format has endured. The club said it began as a training group in Wetzikon in 2010 and became a club in 2014, and that it now trains multiple weapons and styles in Wetzikon and in the city of Zürich. The 2026 edition also offered optional HEMAlympics T-shirts, with orders due by May 15, 2026. After five editions, the Bunny Hop has become more than a novelty. It is a test case for whether playful, mixed-game competition can widen access and keep the HEMA calendar moving.