Karolina Urbanova, at just 24 years old, absolutely demolished two world records at the annual Lumberjack World Championships over the weekend in Hayward, Wisconsin. This young talent, who never even heard of lumberjack sports until a neighbor moved to her small Czech village, isn’t just winning, she’s rewriting the record books in dramatic fashion.
Urbanova’s Record-Breaking Fury
Her performance was nothing short of incredible. In the Women’s Standing Block category, where athletes speed-chop through an upright block of wood with an axe, Urbanova powered through 9 inches of white pine in a blistering 19.38 seconds. Think about that for a second! The previous record stood at 21.17 seconds. She didn’t just break it; she shattered it. Then, she turned around and did it again in the Women’s Underhand Chop, standing on a piece of wood and chopping between her feet. She tore through 11 inches of white pine in 21.28 seconds, blowing past the old record of 24.26 seconds. It’s the kind of dominance that makes you stop scrolling and wonder what’s next. Urbanova herself sums it up best when she says, “It makes me different … so it is what it is.” She started training weekly in a barn, trying different axes and techniques, and now look what she’s doing.
A Sport Exploding With Female Talent
Urbanova isn’t alone in pushing the boundaries for women in lumberjack sports. Hayward native Meredith Ingbretson also joined the record-breaking party at the World Championships. Ingbretson, who’s been competing in logrolling for 28 years after being introduced to the sport at age three, won the Women’s Boom Run. She raced back and forth across eight linked cedar logs in 13.78 seconds, just edging out the previous record of 13.98 seconds. She’d buckled down this past year, cutting out anything that “didn’t align” with her goal. Hayward itself is steeped in timber history since 1880, a place where, as Ingbretson notes, every resident has “probably been in logrolling lessons at least for one summer.” The event director, Samantha LaSalle, who’s been involved since age five, highlighted the massive growth: the number of female competitors has more than trebled in the past 30 years. While women have competed since the inaugural event in 1960, they were initially limited to logrolling. This year, 40 women from around the world competed, a far cry from the “maybe like three girls doing this sport in Europe” Urbanova remembers from when she started.
These women are absolutely electric. Their raw power and dedication are inspiring, proving that these sports are for anyone willing to put in the work and chop their way to glory. The World Championships just wrapped, and with performances like these, you can bet everyone is already buzzing for next year.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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