Nordic athletes ready for the deciding stage of the TIMBERSPORTS® World Championship in Toulouse
Toulouse is set to host a high-energy show on the 8 and 9 of November when extreme sports athletes compete for the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® World Championship title. The Swedish and Norwegian national teams will be representing the Nordic countries in the team event on the Friday, and Sweden’s Ferry Svan will be aiming for the top spot on the podium when he competes in the individual event on the Saturday.
The World Championship in the extreme sport of TIMBERSPORTS® will take place on the weekend of 8–9 November. On the Friday, 20 national teams will go head-to-head as they vie for the World Championship Team title. The national teams go through a knockout stage, duelling two at a time, with four athletes on each team. The athletes take turns in relay to complete the disciplines of Stock Saw, Underhand Chop, Single Buck and Standing Block Chop. The Nordic representatives, Sweden and Norway, are fighting against giants from both Europe and the major nations of the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Joining Vebjørn Sønsteby and Ole Ivar Lierhagen in the Norwegian national team this year are Simen Jesnes Buraas and Gerhard Fuglem. Last year, the Norwegian national team finished in tenth place.
“Our team has two new athletes this year and it will be exciting to see what we can accomplish. We are all looking forward to representing Norway and giving it our best shot, but we’re aware that it’s going to be a tough competition because we haven’t worked together as a team before,” says Vebjørn Sønsteby.
Team Sweden will be competing on Friday with the same lineup as in previous years – Ferry Svan, Emil Hansson, Calle Svadling and Pontus Skye. Ferry Svan will also be participating in Saturday’s Individual competition, which features all six disciplines (three with an axe, two with a chainsaw and one with a long hand-pulled saw) in a three-round format. In each discipline, athletes receive points based on the times achieved with maximum points awarded for the fastest time. Sweden’s Ferry Svan will be competing against eleven other elite athletes from around the world in front of a full crowd at the Zénith Toulouse Métropole Arena.
“I’m aiming for the podium, there’s no doubt about that. But a lot of things have to fall into place in order for me to get that top spot. As well as delivering a faultless performance, it’s important to have good timber and the right opponent along the way,” says Ferry Svan.
Live coverage of STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® World Championship 2024 can be watched here.
The complete TIMBERSPORTS® competition schedule is published here.
