'It makes me different': Meet the women breaking world records in lumberjack sports

'It makes me different': Meet the women breaking world records in lumberjack sportsTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.This video can not be playedFigure caption, Watch these women break world records at lumberjack competitionBySheila FlynnPublished22 July 2026, 06:06 BSTKarolina Urbanova had never heard of lumberjack sports until a new neighbour moved into her small Czech village and enlisted her help for events when she was a teenager.Now 24, she has just broken two world records at the annual Lumberjack World Championships, which were held over the weekend in Hayward, Wisconsin.The competition, which Hayward has been hosting since 1960, brings people from across America and around the world together to showcase their skills in everything from logrolling, chopping and sawing to speed climbing. Men and women mainly compete separately but some events are mixed. This year, 40 women from across the US and abroad joined 66 male competitors – a far cry from the female representation Urbanova saw when she started out. "There were maybe like three girls doing this sport in Europe," she tells the BBC, adding: "Telling people from the city that you are chopping wood usually every day, they looked weird at me.""It makes me different … so it is what it is."Urbanova was talent-spotted by a male competitor alongside her mother and sister and they began training weekly in a barn - trying out different axes and techniques and getting pointers from more experienced athletes as they entered competitions throughout Europe and further afield.Image source, Karolina UrbanovaImage caption, Karolina Urbanova, 24, found out about lumberjack sports though a neighbourShe discovered she was fast, and her new records prove it. In the Women's Standing Block category, where an axe is used to speed-chop through an upright, vertical block of wood, she cut through 9in (22.8cm) of white pine in 19.38 seconds. The previous rec...