Contestants using Husqvarna chainsaws have gathered for training four times during the spring and summer. The participants have achieved very good results at all these training camps.

The first camp was held in Austria. A total of 16 participants performed at their maximum. Massimiliano Biemmi from Italy won two of the disciplines and also the whole competition with an impressive 1656 points. Hans Raffl, gold medallist at the 2006 World Logging Championships, had the same score before the final discipline, Limbing – but lost 20 points because of a small mistake at the end.

The second camp took place in Holland. On this occasion, Wolfgang Heidemann from Germany showed everybody that he’s still in top shape. With 1606 points he took first place, followed by Ole Kjaer from Denmark  1600 points.

A third training camp was held at the same time in Estonia with people from countries such as Russia, Finland, the Baltic States and also the newcomer Poland. Not less than five participants got more than 1600 points – an extremely good result. Ilya Shvetsov from Russia, 2004 World Champion, won three of the disciplines as well as the whole competition during the camp. Shvetsov’s total points: 1653.

The fourth and final training camp was held in Holland once again with selected people from the earlier camps. It was an opportunity to ”polish” everything in detail prior to the WLC in Germany. Robert Cuk from Slovenia won with a good score of 1613 points (he also won two of the disciplines) and Wolfgang Junglas from Germany got the second best total result, 1609 points.

Anders Kragner, in charged of Husqvarna’s involvement in the World Logging Championships, says: "I'm very impressed by the results from the training camps. I believe in gold again, based on such a broad base of skills and the hunger of the Husqvarna contestants."

 Over the years, Husqvarna has enjoyed success after success at the World Logging Championships. Our team members have won numerous medals, often gold, since the first WLC in 1970. The results from recent championships give a good picture of how things usually end up.

14 medals in 2006 WLC

Nine medals in the senior class and five in the juniors was the result after the 2006 championships in Otepää Estonia. An interesting fact is that Husqvarna took six of twelve possible individual golds.

The following Husqvarna competitors won medals:

Total, seniors

Gold: Hans Raffl, Italy
Bronze: Wolfgang Heidemann, Germany

Disciplines, seniors

Tree felling

Gold: Gottfried Schädlich, Germany
Silver: Hugo van Bijsterveldt, Netherlands

Fitting another chain
Bronze: Vadim Ivankulov, Russia

Bucking by combined cuts
Gold: Ilya Shvetsov, Russia
Silver: Gheorghe Ture, Romania

Precision bucking
Bronze: Lars Strandell, Sweden

Limbing
Gold: Vadim Ivankulov, Russia

Disciplines, juniors

Tree felling
Silver: Mathew Thomas. United Kingdom

Bucking by combined cuts
Shared Gold: Mathew Thomas, United Kingdom

Precision bucking
Silver: Petras Navickas. Lithuania
Bronze: Patrik Sjöberg, Sweden

Limbing
Gold: Patrik Sjöberg, Sweden