After another intense third day of competition, the team from Hungary took the gold medal. Silver went to Japan and bronze to France. The Swiss team finished in a good fifth place.
The Swiss team, which has been coached by Max Heinzer, who retired from the active stage in the summer, took a good fifth place in the final ranking. Alexis Bayard, Lucas Malcotti, Ian Hauri and Hadrien Favre can be proud of this good result after courageous fights against France (in the 1/4 final) and in the following placement fights against Kazakhstan and Poland.
Max Heinzer, who retired from competitive sport in the summer and has since been President of the Swiss Association, took over the coaching of the national team in today’s competition himself due to the vacant position of national coach. This measure had a pleasingly positive effect. The team fought with full confidence and high motivation from hit to hit. In the quarter-final, the team narrowly lost by 3 hits to the eventual bronze medal winners France.
Olympic champions Hungary were never in danger in any of their five matches. After victories over Australia (45:24), Canada (45:34) and Kazakhstan (45:36), the French team was tested the most in the semi-finals. After trailing by 15 hits at a moment, the Tricolor team was able to close the gap to four hits. However, with the final score of 45 to 41 hits, the Hungarians were able to hold on to their lead across the finish line. In the final match, Hungary won against Japan with 34 to 27 goals.
Third place went to the team from France after a thrilling encounter with 39 hits to 29. The team competed without long-time team mainstays Yannick Borel (Olympic silver medal in Paris 2024) and Romain Cannone (Olympic champion in Tokyo 2021). Fourth place went to Italy.
All images © by Team Bizzi
All results can be viewed at Ophardt.