6th place for Sweden at the TIMBERSPORTS® World Trophy: Ferry Svan and Emil Hansson hot on the heels of the elite
This year’s World Trophy event took place on Saturday evening in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Favourites Ferry Svan and Emil Hansson treated spectators and fellow competitors alike to sharp-cutting heats throughout the competition, but unfortunately both athletes were knocked out in the quarter-finals. Ferry Svan was disqualified and Emil Hansson was just one stroke of the axe behind the winner of the bronze medal, Jason Lentz. Of the two Swedish athletes, Emil Hansson came furthest in the event and finished in an impressive sixth place.
The Onderzeebootloods submarine wharf, an events venue in Rotterdam, hosted the World Trophy 2023 championships on the evening of Saturday 10th June. The 16 best TIMBERSPORTS® athletes in the world would meet there to participate in this highly competitive event to win the title of World Champion. The athletes are required to complete four disciplines in one go, taking on each other in knockout duels to advance to the next round. The Swedish competitors, Ferry Svan and Emil Hansson, were pegged as strong contenders among the world’s top athletes and both delivered good qualifying times and performed stably in the first round.
In the quarter-final, Ferry Svan, a favourite for the podium, was up against the host nation’s competitor Redmer Knol. Ferry Svan’s solid performance took him to the quarter-final where he was then disqualified for failing to finish the first discipline, the Stock Saw, correctly.
– I was stressed, so I didn’t manage to turn the chainsaw off in time. When I started the second discipline, the Underhand Chop, I heard the saw was still running and knew immediately that I was disqualified. But I still wanted to carry on and complete the heat,” says a clearly disappointed Ferry Svan and continues:
– I had the third best qualifying time, which is great. That’s something to be proud of. You have to take the knock and then bounce back.
Emil Hansson, once again the youngest competitor in the Trophy event and the reigning European champion, achieved a good qualifying time and advanced to the quarter-finals where he met the 37-year-old US athlete Jason Lentz. It was neck and neck between the athletes in the final discipline, the Standing Block Chop, with Lentz managing to drop his block with just one single axe stroke before Hansson. Emil’s time of 1:10.24 gave him an overall impressive sixth place.
– The competition was tough today. I was just one stroke behind Jason Lentz in the quarter-final and I’m pleased with that. Going forward, my goal is to make it past the quarter-finals and start aiming for a place on the podium, says Emil Hansson.
In the end, it was New Zealander Jack Jordan who lived up to expectations and defended his World Trophy title. The 27-year-old, who won the World Trophy in Vienna in 2022, handled the pressure well and not only secured the title but also set a new world record of 53.65 seconds. The silver medal went to Michał Dubicki from Poland and the bronze medal to Jason Lentz from the US.
Another sixth place for Sweden at the Rookie World Championships
The Rookie World Championships took place on Friday evening, with the top twelve Rookie athletes in the world battling to win the prestigious Rookie World Champion title. One of the athletes was Edvin Karlsson, representing Sweden. Many of the junior athletes were hungry for the title and Edvin finished in sixth place after performing strongly.
– The athletes are really good and the competition was tough. But I got off to a good start with the Underhand Chop and came first in Stock Saw, and I’m pleased with that, says Edvin Karlsson.
A phenomenal performance by 18-year-old Szymon Groenwald from Poland secured him the title of World Champion. The young Polish athlete won four out of five disciplines and set new world records of 9.01 and 13.64 seconds in the Single Buck and Underhand Chop respectively. This was the first time that a European athlete was crowned World Champion since 2017 when Sweden’s Ferry Svan became the first European athlete ever to win a Rookie World Championship. The winner of the gold medal at the International Women Cup, which also took place on Saturday, was the American athlete Erin Lavoie.
