While much of the sporting world was focused on soccer, England quietly held another major international competition—one requiring no expensive stadium, no ball and apparently no concern about touching a stranger’s bare foot.

The 2026 World Toe Wrestling Championship took place July 18 in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, where competitors locked big toes and attempted to force one another’s foot sideways against the wooden “toedium.”

Think arm wrestling, except lower, smellier and considerably more difficult to explain on a first date.

When the final toes had been untangled, Derbyshire strongman Kasey “The Big Toe” Brooks emerged as the new men’s world champion. Abigail “A-Big-Nail” Beech captured the women’s championship after winning every round she entered.

Each reportedly walked—or perhaps limped—away with £4,000 in prize money, equivalent to approximately $5,300.

Toe wrestling began in an English pub roughly 50 years ago, supposedly after a group of drinkers became annoyed that Britain did not seem to dominate enough international sports. Their solution was to invent a completely new sport and assume that foreigners would never bother learning it.

That plan did not entirely succeed. Competitors from other countries eventually arrived, forcing the British to actually train.

The rules are surprisingly serious. Two opponents sit facing one another with their bare feet placed on the wrestling board. They interlock big toes, keep their heels down and attempt to pin the opponent’s foot against the side.

Matches are generally contested with both feet, beginning with the right.

Before anyone is permitted to compete, officials examine the wrestlers’ feet and toenails. Participants must wash their feet, disclose infections and sign paperwork acknowledging the possibility of injury.

And injuries do occur.

Retired champion Alan “Nasty” Nash dominated the sport for years, accumulating 16 world titles and reportedly suffering broken toes, damaged ankles and other injuries in pursuit of foot-based immortality.

If two competitors’ toes will not remain properly interlocked—because of size differences, sweat or an unfortunate lack of toe compatibility—officials may use talcum powder. In particularly stubborn cases, the opposing toes can be fastened together with tape and bandages.

Nothing says “world-class athletic competition” quite like being duct-taped by the foot to a stranger in an English marketplace.

This year’s championship offered a total prize fund of approximately £9,000, showing that toe wrestling has moved well beyond its humble pub origins. Organizers say videos of the sport have attracted tens of millions of views online.

They also continue to dream of Olympic recognition.

The Toe Wrestling Federation first approached the International Olympic Committee in the 1990s but was rejected. Organizers say they are preparing to try again, apparently believing the Olympics has room for one more event in which viewers spend the first five minutes asking, “What the hell am I watching?”

For now, Brooks and Beech hold the highest honor available: the right to call themselves world champions in a sport that most of the world still does not realize exists.

And unlike ordinary wrestlers, nobody can accuse them of winning by the skin of their teeth.

They won by the nails of their toes.

Sources: Reuters, World Toe Wrestling Championship

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