USA’s Erin LaVoie successfully defended her STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® International Women’s Cup title in a pulsating event in Klingenthal, Germany, yesterday. The American set a new national record on her way to victory, with Canada’s Stephanie Naud and Czechia’s Karolina Urbanová finishing second and third respectively.
LaVoie lifted the title in front of a passionate crowd at the Vogtland Arena, who had gathered at the famous ski jumping stadium to watch the world’s best logger sportswomen compete in the leading women’s competition in the TIMBERSPORTS® international calendar.
The event capped off an electric weekend of ‘Original Extreme Sport’ axe-tion after the German Championships the previous day.
LaVoie clinches victory with unbeatable Underhand Chop performance
LaVoie started the competition with a bang as she set a new national record in the Stock Saw, finishing fourth in the discipline to accrue 11 points. She improved on that positioning in the Single Buck, setting the second-best time of 15.53 seconds to finish behind Naud and scoring 13 points. LaVoie saved her best until last, finishing top of the pile in the Underhand Chop with a time of 25.94 seconds to secure the maximum 14 points in the discipline, giving her an overall score of 38 points.
Naud a close second as Urbanová completes podium
Finishing behind her by the narrowest of margins was Naud, to round off an axe-llent day for the North Americans. Naud could hardly have done more to take LaVoie’s crown, setting national records in the Stock Saw and Single Buck, followed by a personal best in the Underhand Chop.
Completing the podium places was Czechia’s Urbanová, who like Naud set two national records – in the Stock Saw and Underhand Chop – and a personal best – in the Single Buck – to finish third with an overall points tally of 34.
Einfalt a close fourth and Uebing gives Germans reason to be cheerful
Elsewhere, Austria’s Juliana Einfalt fell just short of the podium on 31 points, while the hosts were represented by Alrun Uebing and Nina Pokoyski, who finished fifth and 11th respectively. Uebing gave the home support something to cheer by finishing top of the standings in the opening discipline, setting a season’s best time of 10.28 in the Stock Saw.
Erin LaVoie, back-to-back winner of the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® International Women’s Cup, commented: “I thank God, because I don’t want to go home not winning. We noticed that we don’t have names on the back of our jerseys because we’re not really here for us, we’re here for our countries.
“I’m very happy and very excited to be here to begin with, it’s just an awesome opportunity. I had to keep reminding myself that we are in fact at a competition because it’s just been so much fun hanging out with the other ladies. It’s a great day!”
Full results and final standings for the International Women’s Cup can be found on the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® database.
