World Axe Throwing League (WATL)

Sport	Axe throwing
Founded	January 2017 (8 years ago) (2017-01)
First season	Spring 2017
Commissioner	Mario Zelaya
Countries	24
Headquarters	Burlington, ON
Most recent champion	Dylan Teets
Official website	worldaxethrowingleague.com

TheWorld Axe Throwing League (WATL) is a global governing body of urbanaxe throwing.^[1][2]

WATL was founded in 2017 by representatives from Canada, the United States, Brazil, and Ireland. It has 19 axe throwing nations with membership. Members include over 200 member companies (affiliates). It organizes international tournament events such as the U.S. Open, Canadian Open, European Open, the North American Arnold Open, South American Arnold Open, and most notably the World Axe Throwing Championship.^[3][4]

It appoints judges who officiate at all sanctioned leagues and tournaments. It promulgates the WATL Code of Conduct, which sets professional standards of discipline for urban axe throwing.

This day (13 June) was created by the World Axe Throwing League to celebrate, raise awareness and unify the sport of urban axe throwing. Though primarily celebrated with affiliates in WATL, it is also celebrated by anyone with a passion for the sport around the world.^[5]

• WATL was founded.
• International Axe Throwing Day (June 13) was founded.
• Representatives from five countries joined the WATL: the United States, Canada, Ireland, Brazil and Denmark.
• The first annual World Axe Throwing Championship was held.

• Evan Walters was announced as the Commissioner of WATL.
• Representatives from 10 countries joined the WATL: the United Kingdom, Turkey, Russia, Spain, the Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, New Zealand, Slovenia, and Indonesia.
• The first annual U.S. Open tournament was held.
• The second annual World Axe Throwing Championship was held, and was the first urban axe throwing production to be featured onESPN.

• Representatives from four countries joined the WATL: South Africa, Australia, Belgium and China.
• The first Canadian Open tournament was held.

• The spring and summer leagues for 2020 were cancelled as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the pandemic and many locations around the world enforcing a quarantine, the WATL helped establish the Quarantine Axe Throwing League with co-founders Gavin Caissie, Mike Morton. This made headway continuing the sport from the homes of players, so they might continue axe throwing despite the mandatory restrictions on social contact.^[6]
• WATL implemented a new style of playing online with WATL Live.
• WATL founder Mario Zelaya was the new Commissioner of the World Axe Throwing League, and Evan Walters became Head of Development for the World Knife Throwing League.

• With COVID-19 restrictions lessened around the world, Axe Throwing League seasons reopened for standard League play.
• The first affiliated location in India started.
• The World Axe Throwing League announced the formation of a new sister league, the World Knife Throwing League.
• At the 2021 World Axe Throwing Championship, Mario Zelaya announced he would be stepping down as Commissioner, with Mike Morton to be his replacement.

• Mike Morton announced he would be stepping down as Commissioner with Sarah Sed to be his replacement starting in January 2024.
• In 2023 it was announced that the World Axe Throwing League and World Knife Throwing League were replacing the annual U.S. Open tournament with a Pro-Am tournament.
• Sarah Sed was announced as the Commissioner starting in 2024.

• The 7th World Axe Throwing Championship is Held in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
• The WATL launches new programs including the Mentorship Program and Content Initiative.
• The WATL Rating System was launched.
• The first Amateur Championships is held in Atlanta, Georgia.

• The 8th World Axe Throwing Championship is held in Appleton, Wisconsin.
• The WATL launches new programs including Community Venues & Flex Leagues .
• The 2nd Amateur Championships is announced to occur in 2026 with the World Axe & Knife Throwing Championships.

Scoring is a match system where ten axes are thrown per match. The player with the highest points of their ten thrown axes wins the match. In case of a tie, a "sudden death" throw is made for the highest score. Sudden death throws are done until one thrower scores higher than the other. Scoring is determined by where the axe strikes into the target. The WATL targets have a red bullseye ring, followed by five empty rings, and then a blue ring. The scoring is 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 point respectively. Additionally, there are blue dots in the 1 point ring, known as "kill-shot," which can only be used when called, twice per match for 7 or 8 points. Point designation is based on the highest point value theaxe touches when it lands and sticks.

In 2018, WATL started working on a tournament format to help include any throwers who could not regularly participate in the WATL axe throwing seasons. This started off by working with a local axe throwing facility inColumbus, Ohio, for theArnold Sports Festival (also known as the Arnold Classic or just "the Arnold", and named afterArnold Schwarzenegger).^[7] As of 2024 WATL has worked with its affiliated axe throwing locations on a tournament circuit where there are dozens of axe throwing tournaments held internationally. These tournaments help players earn spots to the World Axe Throwing Championship just as leagues do.

WATL still directly hosts an annual World Axe Throwing Championship, and typically one other tournament as well, that has varied in name and format over the years.

US Open results

Year	Champion	Location	2nd place
2018	John Bradley	Chicago, Illinois	Eric Enriquez
2019	Mike Kump	Des Moins, Iowa	Sam Carter
2020	Canceled	Canceled	Canceled
2021	Mike Philabaum	Atlanta, Georgia	Michael Theadorou
2022	Mark Tishko	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Lucas Johnson

In 2023 the World Axe Throwing League discontinued the U.S Open in favor of re-branding it as the Pro-Am Championship. This tournament was made to highlight professional throwers as well as amateur ones, in addition to introducing many new styles of gameplay for axe and knife throwing, known as the Skills Challenges.

Pro-Am results

Year	Pro Hatchet Champion	Amateur Hatchet Champion	Location
2023	Brett Jariabek	Erik Rimblas	Appleton, Wisconsin

In 2024 the World Axe Throwing League decided to focus on the amateur competitors with its tournament and rebranded the Pro-Am to the Amateur Championship. The Amateur Championship is aimed at giving newer players a way to experience a higher level of competition without the higher stakes of a World Champion title attached, but with the ability to earn a spot at the World Axe Throwing Championship.^[8]

Amateur Championship results

Year	Amateur Hatchet Champion	Location
2024	Tommy Runkel	Atlanta, Georgia

The World Axe Throwing Championship takes place once a year. The format has slight changes from year to year, to be announced before the beginning of the yearly competition. 2018 marked the first time that an axe throwing championship was presented on ESPN.^[9]

Axe Throwing World Champions

Year	World Champion	Location represented	Country	2nd place	3rd place
2017	Chris Morning	Far Shot Recreation	Canada	Jon Miller	Michael Moore
2018	Benjamin Edgington	Bad Axe Throwing Denver	United States	David Cycon	Paul Gammon
2019	Sam Carter	Tap That Axe Throwing	United States	David Cycon	Straun Riley
2020	Ryan Smit	Tribal Axe	United States	Mike Kump	Nick Rich
2021	Mike Philabaum	Mountain Man Axe Throwing	United States	Garrett Gneiting	Robert Young
2022	Dylan Teets	Axe On Axe Off	United States	Colby Dean	Lucas Johnson/Mike Philabaum
2023	Garrett Gneiting	Social Axe Throwing	United States	Neil Rust	Dave Alviso/Lucas Johnson
2024	Dylan Teets	Swamp Axe Throwing	United States	Nick Kolomyja	Justin Reese/Lucas Johnson

The World Axe Throwing Championship added duals as a discipline in 2019. Duals is when two throwers are working together as a team to throw a combined score.

The World Axe Throwing Championship added Big Axe as a discipline eligible for a Championship title in 2023. Big Axe is similar to Hatchet, but the axe is much larger and often thrown with two hands.

Big Axe Champions

Year	World Champion	Location represented	Country	2nd place	3rd place
2023	Dylan Teets	Swamp Axe Throwing	United States	Jonathan Morgan	Lucas Johnson / Dustin Wellman
2024	Lucas Johnson	Lumber Jack Johnny's	United States	Neil Rust	Tyler Flynn / Neil Rust

The Commissioner of WATL heads the World Axe Throwing League.

WATL Commissioners

Years active	Name	Country
2018 – 2021	Evan Walters	United States
2021 – 2022	Mario Zelaya	Canada
2022 – 2023	Mike Morton	Canada
2024 – 2025	Sarah Sed	United States
2025 – present	Mario Zelaya	Canada

There are over 300 WATL-affiliated locations in the following countries:

• Official website

• Axe throwing
• Precision sports
• Lumberjack sports
• Axes
• Sports organizations established in 2017

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata