She discovered that she was fast and her new records prove it. In the women’s standing block category, where an ax is used to quickly chop a vertical block of wood, she cut 9 inches (22.8 cm) of white pine in 19.38 seconds. The previous record was 21.17 seconds.

In the women’s underhand cut, where competitors stand on a piece of wood and cut between their feet, she cut 11 inches of white pine in 21.28 seconds. The previous fastest time was 24.26.

Urbanova is perhaps the quintessential example of the growing reach of lumberjack sports, particularly among women. She says that while they are niche in the United States, they are almost unknown in the Czech Republic.

That’s not the case for Hayward native Meredith Ingbretson, who also broke a world championship record: She won the Women’s Boom Run, where competitors run back and forth over eight intertwined cedar logs. His time was 13.78 seconds, less than a second faster than the previous record of 13.98.

He said he had made an effort over the past year, eliminating alcohol and anything else that “didn’t align” with achieving his long-standing goal.

Ingbretson was introduced to lumberjack sports at age three. They’re a big part of life in Hayward, which was founded on the foundation of the lumber industry in 1880. It’s a place where, as Ingbretson says, every resident “has probably been to lumbering lessons for at least a summer.”

He has been competing in Logrolling for 28 years and recently started sawing and cutting.