Helsinki Longsword Open 2027
HLO 2027 will be on 22nd - 24th January 2027
Registration opens on Wednesday 23rd September at 14:00 Finnish time (13:00 CET). Sign up in Hemagon.
This year we will have priority registration for the first 48 h:
For roughly 2/3 of the spots per competition in this order:
Paid staff
Top 100 ranked people on HEMA Ratings (only for that weapon category).
Ranking taken on the 23rd of September 2026.Internationals
General information
More information will be published soon in this site. The registration will open in late September.
This year we will be hosting a total of six competitions:
Open Longsword (180 spots)
Women's+ Longsword (72 spots)
Open Sabre (90 spots)
Women's+ Sabre (18 spots)
Open Rapier & Dagger (60 spots)
Open Longsword Cutting (40 spots)
Swords will be provided for the Longsword tournaments. Sabre and Rapier & Dagger will be done on a Bring Your Own Steel (BYOS) basis.
Cutting, Women's+ Longsword, Open sabre, Women's+ Sabre and Open Rapier & Dagger competitions will be on the Friday 22nd. Open longsword and finals for all the competitions will be on the Saturday 23rd. On Sunday 24th we have open sparring at the same venue.
Venue info
The tournament will take place at Ruskeasuon liikuntapuisto. This is the same venue that has hosted the Helsinki Longsword Open the past several years. The address is Ratsastie 10, 00280 Helsinki. The venue can be reached by several bus lines (bus stop Tilkka) and the tram line 10. There is plenty of parking available. Parking is free, but restricted to 4 hours.
The traditional socialising and sparring on the Sunday (24th of January) following the competitions will also take place at Ruskeasuon liikuntapuisto.
Ruskeasuon liikuntapuisto
Ratsastie 10
00280 Helsinki
Rules and gear requirements
The rules for all weapons, including gear requirements, will be published later here.
Livestream
The event will be fully streamed on our YouTube channel.
Insurance
EHMS will not provide insurance for the event. We highly recommend getting a sports insurance that covers full contact martial arts in a competition setting. Note that Finland does not have a national HEMA association, which is something some insurers may ask about.
First aid
There will be first aid staff on site during the event.
Payment and registration
Registration open on 23rd September in Hemagon.
The pricing of the event is as follows:
First tournament you enroll in: 80 €
Any subsequent tournament: 45 €
For example, if you participate in Open Longsword, Women’s+ Longsword and Cutting, you pay 80 + 45 + 45 = 170 euro.
We will send bills per email based on your registration.
The registration will not be considered confirmed until payment has been received! The bill will have a due date 14 days from the date it is sent. The bills will be sent in batches, so don’t worry if you don’t receive yours right away. Note that if you neglect to pay the bill within two weeks, you will be moved to the waitlist. Please contact us if you have questions regarding billing.
We will not issue refunds after 15.12.2026.
All participants must be at least 18 years old.
There is no automatic confirmation email – you can see your registration through your Hemagon profile.
We welcome spectators to the event for free!
GDPR statement
Privacy Policy for EHMS ry’s Member and Partner Register is available here.
Contact info
You can contact the organisers by email at hlo(at)ehms.fi, through the Facebook event page or on the EHMS Discord channel.
Photo by Nina Lehtonen