Nate Hodges -- 2024 STIHL Timbersports Individual World Champion

Nate Hodges of North Fork, California became just the third American ever to win the STIHL Timbersports Individual World Championship when he claimed the 2024 title in Toulouse, France, in front of 9,000 fans. The 40-year-old delivered three personal-best times across six grueling disciplines -- including a 42.73-second Springboard, an 11.74-second Single Buck, and a 5.36-second Hot Saw that clinched the gold medal. Hodges finished with 67 points, edging New Zealand's Jack Jordan and Canada's Ben Cumberland, both at 61 points. The STIHL Timbersports Series is the premier global competition in lumberjack athletics, testing speed, precision, and endurance across events that include chopping, sawing, and climbing. Competitors train year-round with the same intensity as Olympic athletes, maintaining the explosive power needed to cut through hardwood logs in seconds while demonstrating the technique that separates world champions from also-rans. For Hodges, the win was the result of decades of dedication to a sport rooted in the working traditions of the American timber industry -- proof that the skills that built this country can still compete on the world stage.