More than 100 competitive lumberjacks from 21 nations fought for the gold in the Team World Championship of the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® Series in Innsbruck, Austria on 14 November. And in a year that marked the tenth World Championship, the sport’s founding nation, Australia emerged victorious, with the team turning four logs into firewood in under one minute.


Individual 2014 World Champion Jason Wynyard

The Team World Championship is a fast and furious relay event, with each team going through a knockout stage, duelling two at a time on the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® stage. Australia – who had been setting the fastest time since the quarter final rounds, were odds-on favourites into the final relay, but it was by no means an easy victory as they beat Canada into second by just over one second in the thrilling finale. The team from the United States took the bronze medals in third, with Sweden finishing an impressive fourth.

The victorious Australian athletes, headed by Team Captain and 2013 Individual World Champion, Brad De Losa, celebrated their victory enthusiastically: “Great! There was a short moment of shock when our Single Buck hooked, but we succeeded to catch that up. And now, we are just happy. It is great to be here in the Tyrol. People were totally into it. Their hospitality is great.” </<

Great Britain finishes a fabulous fifth in the World; second of the European teams
The Great British team at the 2014 World Championship, was selected from the GB Championship that took place at the CLA Game Fair in July of this year. And of the fabulous foursome that competed on stage, two were GB Team members for the very first time.


Team Award ceremony

“That makes our fifth place finish even more exciting,” commented British Team Captain, Rob Chatley, after the event. “We’ve been training hard in the months since the Game Fair and we’re absolutely buzzed to have finished so high on the board. The atmosphere in the Olympiahalle was fantastic and huge thanks must go to all our British supporters – both those who travelled to Innsbruck to watch us, and those at home who have been sending great messages of support. Their generosity and encouragement meant a lot to the team and gave us a real lift.”

Four disciplines turn logs into firewood – in under a minute
The Team competition in the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® Series takes the form of a relay event. The four athletes in each team complete two disciplines with the axe (Underhand Chop, Standing Block Chop) and two with the saw (Single Buck, Stock Saw) one after the other. The 2014 Australian Team victors completed all four disciplines in less than a minute – 56.80 seconds to be precise. The four technically demanding disciplines revolve around athletes’ skill in handling the equipment and the wood. All the disciplines derive from typical forestry activities and they combine maintaining traditions with the demands of high-performance sport.

Spectacular disciplines thrill spectators
The elite division of lumberjack sports has a massive live following, with millions of enthusiasts regularly watching the competitions on Eurosport and other television channels around the world. A packed audience at the Olympiahalle venue of the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® World Championship 2014, watched the fast and furious Team World Championship event, and many thousands followed the action of a livestream online broadcast which ran throughout the competition.