In Spain, a courageous group of women have ditched phones,
tablets and tech to become fierce knights of the realm.
Far from historical battle re-enactment, this is a brutal
hand-to-hand combat sport called full-contact medieval fighting.
It's a world dominated by men, but these trailblazing women
are fighting at international level for the very first time.
BAND PLAYS NEARBY
The sport began in Eastern Europe and now 20 nations compete.
It's even popular in countries that don't strictly have
a medieval history.
A polearm weighs in at around 3.5kg. That's got to hurt.
To win a duel, a fighter needs to score more hits than their opponent
and each fight is the best of three rounds.
All the fighters take preparations very seriously.
The polearm competition goes well for Sophie, until she meets
Lisa from the USA.
For Polish fighter Marta, lucky charms come in the shape of
a trusty axe.
But while Marta and her axe arrived in Spain, her armour got stuck
in transit, so she's had to borrow a male team-mate's and it
doesn't quite fit.
The mighty Lisa from America is taking no prisoners, smashing
her way through the competition and Marta in the group stages.
Duelling against a single opponent is one thing.
A melee or group fight is quite another.
For mild-mannered marketing manager Amy,
this competition marks an important milestone
in her own personal battle.
The first women's international group fight is USA versus The World
and Amy is America's weapon of mass destruction.
ALL: Valkyries!
Not all countries fighting here have the prowess of America or Poland.
Some just run on pure enthusiasm.
Eve's first opponent is an experienced sword and shield
fighter from Spain.
I guess that means Captain Laurent is pretty happy,
but the win is marred by an injury from a sword strike.
And in the next round,
France's fighter causes Eve even more problems.
Such is the passion of women to fight at this tournament that
Sophie and Rachael carried 60kg of armour in their luggage
halfway across the globe to compete.
That's a hefty amount of excess baggage.
But the Air Miles are worth it as medals and glory are at stake.
There's massive pressure to deliver a win for their teams and
victory means everything for the female fighters.
INTERVIEWER: What's going to be your first move?
Lisa's left behind her family and partner Matt to fight here,
but given how they met,
he most certainly understands her knightly ways.
Jeff is unstoppable in the men's polearm competition.
But can Lisa deliver like her big bro?
As Lisa flattens all competition to reach the polearm final,
her opponent Marta has received some good news - her armour has arrived.
Thousands watch on to see whether it will be an American or Polish
iron maiden who is crowned polearm champion of the world.
Marta's knock-down gains Lisa a vital extra point.
After two rounds, there's a winner.
Stay there for a picture real quick.