Women surge into lumberjack sports, shattering records and barriers

Karolina Urbanova was a teenager in a small Czech village when a new neighbor asked for her help at a lumberjack event. She had never heard of the sport. Now, at twenty-four, she has just shattered two world records at the Lumberjack World Championships in Hayward, Wisconsin—a competition that has drawn athletes from across America and around the world every year since 1960.

In the Women's Standing Block category, where competitors use an axe to speed-chop through an upright block of wood, Urbanova cut through nine inches of white pine in 19.38 seconds, beating the previous record by nearly two seconds. In the Women's Underhand Chop, standing on a piece of wood and chopping between her feet, she sliced through eleven inches in 21.28 seconds—three seconds faster than the old mark. Her path to these records began when a male competitor spotted her talent alongside her mother and sister. They started training weekly in a barn, experimenting with different axes and techniques, eventually competing across Europe and beyond. She discovered she was fast. The records prove it.

Urbanova's breakthrough is emblematic of a broader shift in lumberjack sports. When she began, perhaps three women in all of Europe were competing. This year, forty women from across the United States and abroad competed alongside sixty-six men at the world championships. The female competitor count has more than tripled over the past three decades, according to Samantha LaSalle, the event director. Women have participated since the inaugural championship in 1960, but they were originally confined to logrolling. Access to chopping and sawing events came slowly. The Women's Standing Block Chop—the very event where Urbanova set her record—was only added in 2022. "They were saying: 'We can do more. We can do this event that the men have traditionally done,'" LaSalle explained. As more women trained and competed at high levels, the organization opened the doors. Now, times are dropping every year.

Meredith Ingbretson, a Hayward native, also broke a record at this year's championships in the Women's Boom Run, racing back and forth across eight linked cedar logs in 13.78 seconds—less than a second faster than the previous record. Ingbretson was introduced to lumberjack sports at age three. Hayward, founded on the timber industry in 1880, is a place where, as she puts it, nearly every resident has taken logrolling lessons at least once. She has been competing in logrolling for twenty-eight years and more recently took up sawing and chopping. To achieve her long-held goal of winning, she cut out alcohol and anything else that didn't align with her training. She lifts weights, jogs, does cardio, and refines her axe skills year-round.

Both athletes are driven by more than the pursuit of victory. They speak of the familial and collegiate atmosphere, the chance to travel and build friendships across continents. Prize money rarely covers the full cost of international competition—the Wisconsin championships paid one thousand dollars to each category winner—so Urbanova stayed with a host family. Ingbretson and her husband, who also competes, were hosted in Tasmania last winter. Her mother put up Canadian and Australian competitors in Hayward for this year's event. "I think that's something special," Ingbretson said. "You can go somewhere and they'll let you stay and train you and work with you. It's a very welcoming and open community."

Ingbretson, who works as a community education director at Hayward's high school and manages a local fitness center, has noticed something else shifting: mothers competing. She saw three or four mothers logrolling this year, still pushing for competitive times even as their families grew. Word of mouth and social media have accelerated the sport's reach among women. Colleges across the United States now offer timber sports programs, introducing both men and women to the discipline. Ingbretson has been treated like a celebrity in town this week, particularly when young competitors congratulate her. She is now setting her sights on an all-around title, competing across multiple disciplines—a feat that demands exceptional dedication.

Urbanova, meanwhile, is watching the level of competition rise around her. "The level of the girls is really high now," she said, "so it's also hard to keep the same rhythm with them because they now want to be better than me." She hopes her records inspire others and that she can maintain her streak. But she also recognizes what is happening: the sport is no longer niche, at least not for women willing to pick up an axe and learn to swing it fast. "I just feel pretty proud of myself," she said.