The world's best axe and knife throwers battle for championships, bragging rights in Appleton

APPLETON - At first glance, the World Axe Throwing and World Knife Throwing Championships seem more like a huge family get-together than a sporting event.

On Friday morning, as the first rounds of knife-throwing began, the main hall at the Fox Cities Exhibition Center, 355 W. Lawrence St., was filled with tight rings of friendly conversation and the smell of barbecue.

But the thudding sound of metal piercing wood came in a constant stream from two of the center's spaces. The two rooms were dubbed "Butcher Hall" and "Barbarian Hall" for the weekend, transformed into 48 throwing lanes with wooden targets and red-orange tape.

From Friday through Sunday, more than 550 of the top axe and knife throwers from 38 states and four countries are in downtown Appleton for their leagues' yearly world competition. It's the first time the Fox Cities has hosted the event — and the 2022 World Championships are the largest the World Axe Throwing League and the World Knife Throwing League have held.

More:The World Axe and Knife Throwing Championships are coming to downtown Appleton. Here's what to know.

Hatchet, duals, knife or big axe — all must hit a standard target to earn points

Axe and knife throwing have recently experienced a revival over the past decade, with throwing bars and venues springing up across the United States and the world. The World Axe and World Knife Throwing Leagues are now one of the major governing bodies for the sport (the other is the International Axe Throwing Federation).

In WATL and WKTL competitions, throwers stand between 10 to 17 feet away from the target, though the minimum distance depends on what type of blade the thrower is using. They hurl their axes or knives toward a wooden target 4 feet wide.

Methods of throwing can vary — some use two hands to throw hatchets, others one — but developing one's throw is all about "eliminating motion," said Joe Devine, a Green Bay-based professional axe and knife thrower. "It's a lot like a golf swing."

Throwers score one to five points, depending on where the blade lands inside the target rings. A hit in the bullseye is six points; throwers can call for a limited number of "killshots" toward the top of the target, which scores eight points if the killshot lands.

The competition has four events: hatchet, duals, knives and big axe. The events have similar scoring, but the main differences between them are in the kind of blades thrown at the target. Hatchets are axes under 19 inches long, duals involve partners throwing two hatchets simultaneously, knives are typically just over a foot long, and big axes are required to be at least 2 feet long and weigh three pounds.

These blades look different from everyday axes or knives. Throwing knives are specially weighted and made completely of metal. Throwing axes have a thinner blade than regular axes to stick better to the wall. Throwers compete using their own blades, which are checked before matches to ensure that they stay within the leagues' rules.

Even though the sport is relatively new, competition is intense and the stakes are high. Prize money for all events totals over $50,000 in this year's championships, with grand prizes up to nearly $23,000. Each of the throwers at the world championships had to earn their place through local and regional league-sanctioned competitions.

"There's some awesome players here," Devine said. "If you don't do your best, you're going to lose."

Axe and knife throwing popular in Wisconsin and growing fast across the nation post-pandemic

Devine said axe-throwing was a more casual hobby of his before 2020. But his career in the sport took an unexpected turn when his wife, Amber, became the general manager of Green Bay Axe "a day before everything shut down (because of COVID-19)," he said.

"She had a key, and we didn't have anywhere else to go. So we're like, we're just going to go there every night and throw axes together and drink beer," Devine said.

He said he realized during that time, "I can be good at this."

Others also used their time in quarantine to hone their skills and encourage others to do the same. During the pandemic, current WATL Commissioner Mike Morton, a Canada native, set up virtual leagues with over 300 participants to "keep the spirit of the competition alive" while axe-throwing venues were closed.

Those efforts, he says, have paid off. "Being able to keep the sport alive during the pandemic actually allowed our throwers to get incredibly good," he said.

Now that venues are open again, Morton said the sport has grown by leaps and bounds and the number of competitors have doubled at this year's world championships.

Nearly every major city in Wisconsin has a place to throw axes. Nine axe-throwing venues in Wisconsin are members of the WATL and WKTL, and this year, there were 26 Wisconsin throwers in the competition.

Morton hopes to expand the league's reach across the world, especially overseas. This year, he said, throwers came to the competition from New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Canada.

Not just 'beer-swilling, burly men with long beards': efforts to include more women underway

One of the most common misconceptions about throwing, Morton said, is that it's "only for beer-swilling, burly men with long beards, wearing plaid or Viking horns. That could not be further from the truth."

While the overwhelming majority of competitors at this year's world championships are men, the league also formed a Women's Council nearly a year ago. This is headed by Rachel Rowell, who runs throwing venue Blades and Boards with locations Wausau, Oshkosh and Green Bay.

The council's role is to advocate for women in throwing, who represent about a quarter of all competitors at the world championships. Over this championship weekend, Rowell plans to roll out a mentorship program for the next throwing season, where women pro throwers help their newer counterparts advance to higher levels of competition.

"It's like having Michael Jordan come down and be like, 'OK, let me hold your hand and I'll walk you through this process,'" Rowell said. "It's empowering."

She said the advisory council's efforts have been well-received. "The women in the sport, across all sides of it, are just amazing," she added.

Everyone participates in the same tournaments regardless of sex or age. At least two 14-year-old throwers competed against adults in this year's world championships.

Appleton extends hospitality to throwers; participants and organizers describe happy meeting between two communities

While some throwers didn't know where Appleton was when the world championship venue was announced, they've quickly learned the meaning of "Midwest nice," as Appleton Axe owner Joe Van Abel put it. "(There's) lots of (visitors) saying how friendly everyone is."

The feeling, for his part, is mutual. "I've met a lot of really cool people this week," he said.

Appleton's support, Morton said, "has a lot to do with why this (event) has been so successful so far.

"Not only does Wisconsin have some of the best competitors in the world, but some of the friendliest and most supportive as well. This is a reflection of the axe house owners and how they support their customers and competitive throwers, fostering that sense of community."

But he said that sense of community isn't unique to axe and knife-throwing — instead, it's at "the core of every sport."

He added: "We all share a similar passion. We throw axes, we throw knives ... and we all come together to do it."

Rebecca Loroff is a breaking and trending news reporter for USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. Contact her at 920-907-7801 or rloroff@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Axe- and knife-throwing world competitions begin in downtown Appleton