“Who are we?! I… M… D!”
“Who are we?! I… M… D!”
This is the war cry that could be heard all over the HEC Paris campus, where IMD competed at MBAT, the annual MBA Games, last weekend.
30 April 2025. The date had long been marked, the excitement had been building for months, and the preparations had been done. It was time to head to Paris, the 2024 Olympic host city, to compete for glory.
Our cohort is known for working hard in the classroom but make no mistake: we bring that same grit to the gym and sports field. With two Olympians, a couple of former military officers, and a fitness-mad class, we had one goal – to punch above our weight. And so we did.
A huge shoutout to Ezgi Gani and the tireless sports committee (Julian Ritzi, Connor Lewis, Abby Lampe, and Anurag Agarwal) who juggled logistics, room bookings, and last-minute team swaps like pros. “Who’s in for goalball?” “Need more for frisbee!” “Who’s captaining Spartan?” The group chat was abuzz as we traveled to the city of light.
We arrived in Paris to a warm spring evening, a quiet dinner, and a few deep breaths before the games began the following day.
And we’re off
Day 1 kicked off with early registration and a quick group photo before everyone scattered across campus to compete in their respective events… football, rowing, trivia, e-sports, you name it.
Our cricket team, captained by the unflappable Aundria Mirabrishami, crushed our Swiss colleagues from St. Gallen in the early fixture. Auni had been hosting weekly practice sessions since day one, introducing lots of new people to the sport she’s so passionate about.
Meanwhile, our football team, led by Coach Yusuke Shinohara and anchored by Victor Petrassi in goal, fought valiantly against IE and HEC, losing narrowly in both matches.
Despite these setbacks, our luck was about to change as we scooped an early gold in the tug-of-war final against Oxford.
The performance of the day? Watching Abby and Andrea Herrera take the stage for the dance competition, performing alone in front of a massive crowd while other schools fielded teams of 15 or more. They had the spectators, and us, on our feet, and their courage and talent were the talk of the night.
Climbing the ladder
Despite a few sore muscles (and heads from the Wild West party the night before), Day 2 saw IMD rise rapidly up the leaderboard.
It started with CrossFit, where we showed our dominance with a double gold early in the morning. Our mixed team (Somerset Jarvis, Abby Lampe, Georg Vind, Konstantin Dreyer, and Fabian Solheim) destroyed their opponents, while Anton Amtrup held off a strong field to claim the men’s competition. As Anton pointed out, this was the culmination of months of work.
Next up, the trivia team (myself, Rupert Hitsch, Sarah Grambart , Daniel Keat, and Zareen Cheema) took down Oxford in the semi-finals before falling agonizingly short of HEC by half a question in the final. Half a question! The longest match ever played at Wimbledon was indeed 11 hours – but it turns out gallium has a slightly higher melting point than cesium.
All roads lead to Paris
Later that day, Somerset Jarvis clinched gold in the 1500m track event. The Spartan team, led by Agustina Bigatti, powered to silver. Our budding young models strutted their stuff lakeside at the fashion show, where fashion director Rand Dabbagh coordinated a stunning show.
We closed out the night with another gold – this time in the Battle of the Bands. Murali Mohan, Pranav Awasthi, Abby L, Rodrigo S, Tomás Barceló, Kabelo Themane, and Jean Robles lit up the stage with various covers and a stirring rendition of Sweet Child O’ Mine.
As the crowd chanted “We want more”, our band left the stage to make way for the other schools. Who knows, maybe we’ll see them perform again at our graduation. We can only hope!
Racing, running, and rowing
Saturday, the final day. We lined up for the 10km cross-country run early morning. Konstantin D. finished 4th in the men’s race, while Somerset J grabbed bronze in the women’s event. Afterward, we caught up with the winner of the men’s event, Rui Yong Soh from LBS, who set the world record for the fastest marathon in a suit in London last week (2 hours 39 minutes). Unbelievable.
But what truly stood out was our very own, Jens Marczinski, who cheered every runner, not just ours, sprinting up and down the field boom box in hand. He displayed that special spirit and heart, earning IMD the inaugural Best Cheering Award at the evening rewards ceremony.
I rushed from the track to the gym to compete alongside Olympic rowing champion Oliver Zeidler in the 500m sprint. I had never participated in an official rowing event before, so tensions were running high. Olli gave me some tips as I managed a time of 1 minute 21 seconds in the heats. I couldn’t replicate it in the finals, but still claimed bronze, while Olli crushed the field to finish first in a new PB of 1 minute 15 seconds. It turned out that the event I was most nervous about was the one in which I surprised myself the most with my performance. Talk about stepping into the unknown.
Olli backed up his 500m gold by spearheading the mixed relay team (including Abby, Stefan Palios, and Sarah Grambart) to victory over a strong Oxford team. Not bad for a small school in Lausanne that isn’t exactly known for rowing.
To cap things off, we ended up winning the third place playoff for Ultimate Frisbee against IE. I hadn’t heard of this sport before the weekend but left completely hooked. It might have been the event I enjoyed the most that weekend, with plenty of running and a good connection with my fellow teammates.
Savoring the moment
As we made our way to the Gala evening with the medals clinking in our pockets, I called my wife to share all the highs from the previous day. She said something that stuck with me:
“It sounds like you’re at the right place. You’re at your best when you’re around people who push you. You’ve always loved that.”
She was right. Over three days, we had pushed each other to new heights. We became more than classmates; we became a team.
Other schools noticed it too. As Oxford’s Jonathan Cowper put it: “For a small school, you guys punch way above your weight.”
We walked away with 17 medals, 620 points, a school record, and the highest per-capita score of the competition. Oxford claimed the overall win, followed by HEC and LBS, and we left with our heads held high.
A huge thanks to HEC for hosting us, Ezgi and the sports committee for organizing everything, the IMD staff, and especially our Dean Omar Toulan for recognizing the impact these events can have on class unity and camaraderie.
Not only was he one of the only deans there, but he cheered every event and reminded us to enjoy every second: “Savor the moment, for you will probably only get to enjoy MBAT once.”
Au revoir, Paris, and thanks for the memories.
Big thanks to Rodrigo Sarzosa for capturing these moments this weekend.
