Jouster's Helmet Knocked Off by Opponent's Lance at the European Championship Joust at Spottrup Castle

News video of American jouster Steve Hemphill getting his helmet struck off by the lance of Swedish jouster Gunnar Cederberg during the European Championship jousting tournament (ECS) that took place last week in Denmark.



Video from tvmidtvest.dk/nettv/

This tournament, called EM i Ridderturnering in Danish, took place during the week of July 23 - 27, 2012 at the famous Danish landmark, Spottrup Borg("Borg" means "castle" in Danish). The helmet removal by lance hit, which is reminiscent of a scene from "A Knight's Tale", occurred during the first pass of Steve's second jousting match during the finals on Friday. The helmet was so badly damaged that it was no longer usable, and Steve had to withdraw from the rest of the competition, leaving him in sixth place overall.

However, even though he was unable to finish the competition, Steve was still chosen as the "Most Chivalric European Champion" of the tournament.

The lance assisted helmet removal was not the only hard hit by a Swede during this tournament. Swedish jouster Klas Lundberg, who was the overall winner of the tournament, broke the shafts of several lances during the tournament, and although the tips of these style of lances are designed to break, the shafts are not. Klas also managed to almost punch a hole through the ecranche(a small shield strapped to the left shoulder) worn by Joakim Løvgren, one of the rising stars of Danish jousting.

UPDATE: Klas did not almost punch a hole through Joakim's ecranche; he did punch a hole through it... and dented the armour underneath.

Joakim Lovgen and Klas Lundberg with the damaged ecranche (photo by Asa Cidh)

Fortunately neither Steve, nor Joakim were injured during these incidents.

Many thanks to Petter Ellingsen of Ridderhest for sharing the link to the helmet incident video with TJL.