Team NT’s Chris Stipdonk hopped on his knuckles for a world record 217 feet to win gold at the 2026 Arctic Winter Games on Wednesday.
After missing the 191-foot Arctic Winter Games record by three feet in 2023, then being brought to a halt after just 57 feet by the judges in 2024, Stipdonk’s victory in Whitehorse this week represents the achievement of a long-held goal.
Stipdonk already held the prior world record of 206 feet but had not previously found enough form during editions of the Arctic Winter Games to beat the 191-foot AWG record set in 1988 by Rodney Worl of Alaska. (Rodney’s son, Kyle, has since become one of Stipdonk’s main competitors.)
That changed on Wednesday. Stipdonk, 40, was first to compete at St Francis of Assisi Catholic Secondary School, adopting a push-up position and then hopping on his knuckles and toes around a 168-foot circuit taped to the floor.
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He only found out moments beforehand that he would be first up, competing inside the same school gymnasium where he made his Arctic Winter Games debut as a soccer player in 2000.
The event in which he now stars is so punishing on the knuckles that volunteers stand by to mop up traces of blood and other detritus in the aftermath.
Chris Stipdonk mid-knuckle hop at Whitehorse 2026. Ollie Williams/Team NT
Stipdonk’s knuckles immediately after the event. He has stressed that despite the damage to his hands – which he immediately cleans and bandages – he believes core strength is the more important determinant of who wins. Ollie Williams/Team NT
Stipdonk was the only competitor on Wednesday to complete more than one lap, eventually collapsing to the ground a quarter of the way through his second circuit in front of a packed crowd. There had been a lineup outside for a seat.
Now a Yellowknifer, the former Fort Simpson resident had announced his retirement when he just missed the Games record in 2023 – but came back a year later only to be stopped short because officials ruled his butt was too high in the air.
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Maintaining the right form is an important part of the sport, which is a banner event at the Arctic Winter Games. (This time, one official said Stipdonk’s posture throughout had been “frickin’ perfect.”)
Film crews, reporters and intrigued spectators lined the gymnasium floor to see the event – the biggest crowd of the week at the Arctic Sports venue.
Stipdonk’s family were among them. Daughter Lindsey is a speed skater for Team NT and has already won a gold ulu of her own.
‘Got to perform on your one try’
A clearly delighted and relieved Stipdonk said afterward that the Arctic Winter Games record had motivated him to keep coming back.
He considers it “far more impressive” than the world record because while you can set the world mark at any sanctioned event, the AWG record requires performing on cue one day every two years (and every three years from now on, as the Arctic Winter Games is moving from its traditional two-year cycle to a three-year one).
“I’ve been chasing that Arctic Winter Games record for I don’t know how many years,” he said.
“For him” – Rodney Worl of Alaska – “to have that record and hang on to it for so long? It’s unimaginable, especially in a time when we know more about nutrition, more about training, more about the importance of sleep, all these sorts of things that those guys didn’t know so much. Those were tough guys back then, though, right?
“So I’ve been chasing that record. It’s really hard to get. … You’ve got to perform on your one try on that day and nail it. And there have been more days, more times that I’ve not gotten it than than I have. I got it today.”
Editor’s note: The author of this article is also serving as a volunteer mission staff member for Team NT at the Games.
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