Despite the exponential growth of the sport, there still aren’t that many spots available at this weekend’s World Axe Throwing League World Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

But six competitors based at the new Dragon’s Lair Axe and Tap in Maple Grove – including two of the top-ranked throwers in the world – are making the trip hoping to become World Champs.

Dragon’s Lair’s co-founders Austin Luecke from White Bear Lake and Maple Grove’s David Lewis are both ranked among the top five in the worldwide rankings.

KSTP Sports met up with Luecke and Lewis before the crew set off for the World Championships to discuss how they got into competitive axe throwing, where the idea to open Dragon’s Lair came from and many of the finer points of the sport they’ve come to know, love and master

Click the video box on this page to watch KSTP Sports’ story on world class competitive axe throwers and Dragon’s Lair Axe and Tap co-founders Austin Luecke and David Lewis as they prepared for the 2024 World Axe Throwing League’s annual World Championship gathering

Luecke is a regular at the WATL World Championships, having competed all six times the event has been held. He finished 3rd in 2022 when Worlds took place in Minneapolis.

Lewis is one of very few competitors who qualified for Worlds in all four WATL disciplines: hatchet, big axe, knives and duals – where he and Luecke compete as a a tandem.

They’re joined by fellow Dragon’s Lair competitors Randy Hempel (Duals), Brandon Bohn (Duals), Josh Kramber (Hatchet) and Olaf Lee (Knives) in Tulsa this weekend at the World Championships.