The Daily Populous Monday July 14th, 2025 night edition
Authored by runningmagazine.ca and submitted by ImDoubleB

How far would you go for your spouse?

Last Saturday, the 2025 Wife-Carrying World Championships took place in Sonkajärvi, Finland for the 28th time–the ultimate test of speed, strength and love. For the first time since the sport’s inception in 1992, a non-European couple claimed the crown: Caleb Roesler and Justine Roesler of Wisconsin won the 253.5-metre obstacle course in a course-record time of 1:01.17.

Their prize? Justine’s weight in beer.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Eukonkanto | Wife Carrying (@wifecarrying)

This year’s event saw one of its largest turnouts ever, with 200 competitors from 18 countries and 2,000 spectators lining up to watch.

Defending champions Vytautas Kirkliauskas and Neringa Kirkliauskiene Liettua of Lithuania took second in 1:04.60, while Finland’s own 2023 champions, Taisto Miettinen and Katja Kovanen Suomi, clocked 1:05.02 for third.

A US couple has been crowned the winner of the 2025 Wife-Carrying World Championship held in Finland, which also included a separate women’s series this year pic.twitter.com/4JiGDI1Bui — Reuters (@Reuters) July 8, 2025

“There aren’t many wives in the world who would agree to this,” Caleb told media post-race. “She did a great job. We went under water and she didn’t panic–so we’re happy. [I’ve] never done anything like that–jumped into a water puddle with my wife.” The couple also won the 2024 North American Wife-Carrying Championship in Newry, Maine last October.

Before the Roeslers’ win, every world champion in the event’s history had come from Finland, Lithuania, Estonia or Russia.

Despite the name, there are gender or martial-status requirements to compete–the “wife” can be anyone willing to be carried. The team must navigate a 253.5-metre course with two dry-land obstacles and a one-metre-deep water pit.

The most common technique is the “Estonian carry,” where the wife rides in an upside-down piggy back with her legs around the carrier’s neck. This leaves the carrier’s arms and hands free for tackling the course.

The “wife” must be at least 17 years old and 49 kg. (A weight belt must be worn to make up the difference.)

Helmets are required for the wife, and the carrier is permitted to wear a belt.

“Each year, they are hungrier,” Kirkliauskas said before the race. “Me and Taisto–we’re at the masters age, but the young guys are strong and tall and hungry for the medals. So it will be very difficult.”

ImDoubleB on July 13rd, 2025 at 16:16 UTC »

For the first time since the sport’s inception in 1992, a non-European couple claimed the crown: Caleb Roesler and Justine Roesler of Wisconsin won the 253.5-metre obstacle course in a course-record time of 1:01.17.

Their prize? Justine’s weight in beer.