Cassandra from Norway is the best newcomer in Helsinki

Posted On: November 29, 2023

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HELSINKI: Seven Norwegian athletes traveled to the Nordic open championships in military pentathlon. Cassandra Bjelkerud (number four from left) took part in the National Championships for the first time last fall, and was Finland’s best newcomer.

Private photo.

Seven Norwegian Armed Forces athletes took part in the Nordic open championships in military pentathlon this week. Norway’s best athlete had to miss several training sessions due to injury, but there were bronzes in the team competition for both men and women.

The Norwegian national team in military pentathlon this week participated in the Nordic championships in Helsinki. Together with them to Finland, Norway brought three new athletes, after which Cassandra Bjelkerud became the best newcomer of the championship.

Kristoffer Skonnord, who recently took the overall silver medal at the international competition in Munich, received a somewhat amputated championship. Due to the injury, he was only able to compete in three of five practices. But he produced strong results in the three disciplines he was able to complete, with the best individual time in cross country and the best score in shot put.

Skonnord was also the best on the cross-country track last year, during the Nordic championships in Halmstad.

Norway’s Marius Dreyer was the best Norwegian male overall, with sixth place. Tobias Olsen and Martin Lindstad finished in 15th and 17th place respectively.

Ingrid Øgsnes was the best Norwegian woman overall, ranking sixth.

Bjelkerud finished ninth in her first Nordic championships, and Norway’s Julia Brønmo finished in 12th place.

Both the Norwegian women’s team and the Norwegian men’s team won bronze medals in the overall competition.

Denmark’s Jonas Lemvig and Juliane Hvid repeated last year’s championship success in Halmstad, and took individual gold medals on both the men’s and women’s sides.

This championship was also attended by athletes from Germany, Austria, Latvia and the Czech Republic, in addition to athletes from the Nordic countries. Few of these countries have professional athletes, while Norwegian athletes are employed on a daily basis in various departments of the Norwegian Armed Forces and thus invest in military pentathlon alongside work.

Military pentathlon

The military pentathlon consists of five exercises:

Shooting. Precision rounds with ten shots in a maximum of ten minutes and fast rounds with ten shots in less than a minute.
Obstacle. Athletes traverse a 500-meter track, where men must overcome 20 (men’s) or 16 (women’s) obstacles.
Obstacle course swimming. Swim 50 meters with four obstacles along the way.
Grenade throwing. Several grenades must be thrown precisely at the target at different distances. Also includes three long throws, whichever is the longest.
Cross country racing. Men run eight kilometers, women four kilometers.

Each athlete completes all disciplines, and the winner is determined using the total score.

This sport was founded in 1946 on the initiative of French officer Henri Debrus. Military pentathlon is a kind of continuation of the Olympic discipline of modern pentathlon, which, among other things, involves outdated military exercises such as show jumping and fencing. Today’s military pentathlon is geared towards the skills required of a modern soldier.