Northland timbersports star Jason Wynyard is due back in the country today, after leading the New Zealand team to gold at the Stihl Timbersports World Championships in Switzerland over the weekend.
After three days of athletic prowess with the axe and saw, the competition drew to a close with an exciting
team competition on Sunday in Tyrol.
The team from New Zealand edged out its rivals in the team competition to take home the gold in front of nearly 6000 enthusiastic spectators.
A total of nearly 15,000 spectators followed the three days of competition in the Stihl World Championships before the team competition got under way.
They experienced an exciting contest, with more than 100 athletes, national teams from 18 countries, and a rookie team.
The New Zealanders prevailed as the best team. They demonstrated coolness of nerve and took first place in an exciting showdown with the USA, who won the silver medal, with the team from Switzerland finishing third.
The New Zealand team of Wynyard, David Bolstad, Shane Jordan and Ivor Thomas put on an impressive display of athletic prowess in all five rounds and turned in times of less than one minute for all four disciplines; with the four athletes managing the final round in 50.77 seconds.
The New Zealanders celebrated their second title on the heels of an individual gold medal to Wynyard the previous day.
The former Karetu woodsman, who now lives in Auckland, won the Stihl Timbersports World Championship crown at the Oregon State Fair last week and added his second world title to his kitbag over the weekend - making him the undisputed world champion.
The Kiwi team captain also broke a world record on the single buck saw to underline his dominance. "We trained all year for this moment and are elated to be able to return home with the world championship title," Wynyard said.
Four athletes per nation, plus a fifth as an alternate, were entered in the team competition, which was the first one held at a world championship. The squads in the team event vied in saw disciplines Stihl stock saw and single buck, as well as the axe disciplines underhand chop and standing block chop.
The next Stihl Timbersports world championship will be held on the first weekend of September next year in Roermond in the Netherlands.
