Czech competitor Karolina Urbanova, 24, broke two world records at the annual Lumberjack World Championships in Hayward, Wisconsin (a small timber-industry town that has hosted the event since 1960), setting new fastest times in the Women's Standing Block Chop and Women's Underhand Chop events. Local athlete Meredith Ingbretson also set a record in the Women's Boom Run, a log-racing discipline she has practiced since age three. The achievements reflect a broader surge in female participation in lumberjack sports, with the number of women competitors more than tripling over the past 30 years and new disciplines only recently opened to women — driven by social media exposure, university timber sports programmes, and a tight-knit global community that hosts competitors across continents.