Yes, TimberSports is a thing and the World Championships are heading to Liverpool

We never knew what TimberSports were either up until this morning, but apparently they are an actual thing and billed as an edge-of-your seat, spectator experience.

The 2017 STIHL TimberSports World Championships, which took place in Lillehammer this weekend, concluded with the exciting announcement that next year‘s Championship will take place here at the Echo Arena Liverpool on 19th and 20th October 2018.

Councillor Malcolm Kennedy, Lord Mayor of Liverpool, was presented with a wooden plaque by Wolfgang Zahn, Head of Research and Development on the STIHL Advisory Board, in the official handover at the finale of this year’s championships.

The STIHL TimberSports World Championship sees the best athletes from across the globe compete in a series of woodchopping challenges utilizing axes and saws. The sport was founded in 1985, and includes six different disciplines – the Underhand Chop, the Stock Saw, the Standing Block Chop, the Single Buck, the Springboard and the Hot Saw. Over 5,500 spectators attended this year’s event in Norway, with millions worldwide tuning in to the action on TV.

Mitch Hewitt of Canada competes in the Hot Saw discipline

Athletes from over 20 nations will be battling it out in Liverpool next year for the Individual and Team titles. In the team event on Friday 19^th October, the national teams will compete against each other in a knockout system, where the disciplines of Stock Saw, Underhand Chop, Single Buck and Standing Block Chop are completed by four athletes in a relay. The world’s top twelve athletes will then compete against one another in all six disciplines as part of the individual competition on Saturday 20^th October. In each discipline the competitor is awarded points according to their achieved time, with the athlete achieving the highest number of points declared the Individual World Champion.

Brad De Losa of Australia competes in the Standing Block Chop discipline

2018 will be the first time that the World Championship will be hosted in the UK, with ‘Team GB’ looking to make the most of the home advantage, whilst the 2017 individual winner Jason Wynyard and team competition winners New Zealand will be hoping to retain their titles.

Councillor Malcolm Kennedy, Lord Mayor of Liverpool said; “We are delighted to be hosting next year’s Championships at the Echo Arena Liverpool and it is a privilege to showcase a sport that is watched by millions of people worldwide. I have been in Lillehammer all weekend and the atmosphere at both the team and individual events was electric. It is like nothing I have seen before, and is a fantastic sporting spectacle.”

Jason Wynyard of New Zealand (C) celebrates with Brad De Losa of Australia (L) and Mitch Hewitt of Canada (R) during the Award Ceremony of the Stihl Timbersports World Championships at the Hakons Hall in Lillehammer, Norway on November 4, 2017.

Simon Hewitt, Head of Marketing from STIHL added: “The popularity of the sport in the UK is growing exponentially, therefore the UK is an obvious choice to host the next World Championship event. We are thrilled that Liverpool will be hosting as they are incredibly passionate about their sport and we know the city will give a warm welcome to the athletes travelling from all over the world to compete. A STIHL Timber Sports live event really is a fantastic experience and we look forward to introducing the Original Extreme Sport and these world class athletes to a whole new audience.”