STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® World Trophy 2026 – Budapest

On a warm June evening in City Park, an athlete steps up to a log the size of a small car, raises an axe, and in the next few seconds it’s over. The wood splits, the crowd erupts, and somewhere in the stands a first-time spectator turns to their friend completely lost for words. Whatever they just witnessed, they’re already hooked.

That’s the magic of STIHL TIMBERSPORTS®, and on June 5–6, 2026, it’s coming to Budapest.

A sport born in the forest

The story of STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® begins over 150 years ago, deep in the timber camps of Australia, New Zealand, and North America. Loggers were hard people doing hard work, and like hard people everywhere, they competed. Who could split a log fastest? Who had the sharper axe, the steadier hand, the stronger back? What started as spontaneous rivalries between working men in the wilderness slowly, over generations, transformed into something far more structured — and far more spectacular.

Today, the athletes who step onto the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® competition floor are elite sportspeople in every sense. They train with the discipline of Olympic athletes, wield tools sharpened to an almost absurd degree of precision, and deliver performances that are over in seconds but require months of preparation. The best of them can complete a full four-discipline sequence — chainsaw, axe, hand saw, axe again — in under a minute. It is, by any measure, one of the most extraordinary athletic spectacles in the world.

Budapest steps into the spotlight

For only the second time — the first was back in 2014 — Budapest plays host to a major STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® world competition. And this edition is bigger than anything that has come before it.

Three world championship titles will be decided across a single weekend at the Városligeti Műjégpálya, the iconic rink nestled in the green heart of City Park. The city’s most beloved public space becomes, for two extraordinary evenings, the centre of the lumbersport universe.

Friday night: the young guns arrive

The weekend opens on Friday evening with the Rookie World Championship — and if you think “rookie” means gentle, think again. These are under-25 athletes from across the globe, competing with a hunger that makes for some of the most thrilling viewing of the entire weekend.

Among them is a name the Hungarian crowd already knows well: Urbán Ádám. He is 17 years old. He began competing at 15, made his international debut at 16, and has already stood on the podium at international level. He has been part of the Hungarian national team since 2025 and competed at last year’s World Championships in Milan. On Friday night, he competes at home, in Budapest, with thousands of Hungarian fans cheering his name. Some athletes wait a lifetime for a moment like that. Urbán Ádám gets his at 17.

Saturday afternoon: a moment for the history books

At 16:00 on Saturday, the Women’s World Championship gets underway for the very first time in STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® history. Never before has a women’s world champion been crowned in this series. That milestone happens in Budapest, on a June afternoon, in front of an international crowd. Whoever lifts that trophy becomes a legend of the sport from the very first moment the title exists.

Saturday evening: the main event

By 19:00, the World Trophy — the most prestigious individual competition in lumbersport — gets underway, and the world’s elite take to the floor.

The format is relentless: side-by-side, knockout competition, four disciplines in a row, no rest, no margin for error. Stock Saw, Underhand Chop, Single Buck, Standing Block Chop — each one a test of something different, each one spectacular in its own right. The chainsaw roars, sawdust fills the air, axes flash under the floodlights.

And in the middle of all that elite international competition, there is Strúbel Bence. Just 23 years old, already a three-time Hungarian national champion, already one of the most exciting figures in domestic lumbersport. On Saturday night, he steps up against the best in the world, on home ground, with Budapest roaring behind him. Whatever happens, it will be a story worth telling.

A City Park evening worth the trip

There is something about watching an extraordinary sporting event in a beautiful setting that stays with you long after the final axe stroke. The Városligeti Műjégpálya sits at the heart of one of Budapest’s most cherished green spaces, steps away from the grandeur of Heroes’ Square and the fairy-tale silhouette of Vajdahunyad Castle. Arrive early, walk through the park as the evening light settles over the city, find your seat, and get ready.

By the time the first chainsaw fires up, you’ll understand exactly why this sport has captivated audiences for more than 150 years — and why Budapest in June 2026 is the place to experience it.