The inaugural International Hammer Challenge 2023 was conducted in the famous Tali Bowl, Helsinki, Finland from the 11th of august 2023 until the 20th of august 2023. Total of 671 Entries and re-entries were bowled during the duration of the tournament by 305 total players, where of 58 were women.
After 2 B final steps and 4 A final steps it all came down to 4 players for the semifinals and finals.
In the first semifinal Sanna Oksanen from Finland defeated Mik Stampe from Denmark after a roll-off. After they both bowled 191-191, Sanna rolled a strike but Mik could only get an 8 so Sanna moved on to the finals.
In the second semifinal game Jenni Heino defeated Karo Hilokoski with a 206 against 186.
In the end it was an all-woman affair in the finals. There Jenni Heino managed to grab her first EBT win by beating Sanna, 231 vs 222.
The highest man was Mik Stampe, Denmark.
Essi Pakarinen from Finland managed to extend her lead in the Women’s ranking by getting a 3rd place finish in the women division. Anna Andersson and Nora Johansson are following. More here.
In the Men’s ranking there were no changes at the top, Kim Bolleby still leads comfortably but Mathias Ankerdal in second place managed to get some points in Finland. Otherwise, there were no changes in the top 8 except for Pontus Andersson who managed to move into the top 8.
The complete ranking can be seen here: Women | Men