For the first time in the Stihl Timbersports World Championship 36-year history, no Australian athletes were able to compete in the pinnacle event of the original extreme sport.
Broadford’s Brayden Meyer was the reigning world champion, winning in 2019, while Laurence O’Toole won back in 2018.
Meyer was granted a travel exemption to compete in the event, however the uncertainty of securing a seat home on one of the limited flights meant that he wouldn’t have been able to return home this year.
Taking placing on October 2 in Munich, Germany, athletes from Europe, the United States and Canada competed in the championships, as the USA’s Jason Lentz was crowned the new world champion.
Meyer watched the championship slip away via a live stream he watched at home but was one of the first to congratulate Lentz on winning the event.
“I was gutted having been unable to travel to Europe this year for the Stihl Timbersports World Championships,” he said.
“Congratulations to Jason Lentz on a big win today. I’m sure we’ll be back next year to reclaim the title.
“Don’t get too comfortable with it because we’re coming for you.”
The roots of the international extreme sports competition series lie in Australia and New Zealand, and today, the world’s best athletes compete in events featuring three axe disciplines and three sawing disciplines.
The 2022 Stihl Timbersports World Championships will be on October 28-29 in Gothenburg Sweden, where it will also welcome the return of the team event, which has been on a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19.
