Wok racing is a sport developed by the German TV host and entertainer Stefan Raab in which modified woks are used to make timed runs down an Olympic bobsleigh track. There are competitions for and , the latter using four woks per sled.

History Wok racing was inspired by a bet in the German TV show Wetten, dass..?. In November 2003, the First official Wok World Championship was broadcast from Winterberg. The immediate success led to the second world championship in Innsbruck on March 4, 2004. Participants are mostly b-list celebrities like musical artists, actors, and TV hosts, but there are also known athletes that have ongoing professional careers in winter sports, like three-time Olympic luge champion Georg Hackl and the Jamaican Bobsled Team.

The third championship took place again in Winterberg on March 5, 2005. In contrast to the previous championships, there were two runs in which all contesters participated. The times of both runs were added. As a further innovation a qualifying round was created in which the participants had to jump from a trickski-jump with woks to determine the starting order. Further the sport event was professionalized.

Equipment

Typical racing woks are usually directly imported from China. The only modifications are that the bottom is reinforced with an epoxy filling and heated with a blowlamp. Four-person woksleds consist of two pairs of woks, each of them is held together by a rounded frame. The two pairs are connected by a coupling. Due to the rather risky nature of the sport the participants wear heavy protective gear, usually similar to ice hockey equipment. To further reduce friction and the risk of injuries, the athletes wear ladles under their feet.

Advertising controversy Public wok racing is only practiced once a year at The "World Wok Racing Championships" (German: Wok-WM, , lit. Wok Worldcup) which is aired as special edition of Raab's show TV total on the German television channel ProSieben. The network used to declare these broadcasts as sporting events. Under German law that allowed the network to treat the massive corporate sponsorship of the event as incidental advertising which didn't count against Germany's strict rules regarding time limits for TV commercials. After a Berlin court ruling in 2009, however, the shows have to be labeled as an infomercial, since – unlike a regular sporting event – the races are explicitly staged for the TV broadcast, and there is strong evidence that the profits of the event sponsorship directly benefit the network.

World Wok Racing Championships

Venues November 6, 2003: Winterberg March 4, 2004: Innsbruck March 5, 2005: Winterberg March 11, 2006: Innsbruck March 9, 2007: Innsbruck March 8, 2008: Altenberg March 7, 2009: Winterberg March 19, 2010: Oberhof March 12, 2011: Innsbruck March 10, 2012: Königssee March 2, 2013: Oberhof March 8, 2014: Königssee March 14, 2015: Innsbruck November 12, 2022: Winterberg November 11, 2023: Winterberg

Ranking

One-person Wok

Year Gold Silver Bronze 2003 Stefan Raab Joey Kelly Detlef Soost 2004 Georg Hackl Joey Kelly Stefan Raab 2005 Georg Hackl Stefan Raab Joey Kelly 2006 Joey Kelly Georg Hackl Stefan Raab 2007 Georg Hackl Joey Kelly Stefan Raab 2008 Georg Hackl Christian Clerici Joey Kelly 2009 Georg Hackl Felix Loch Joey Kelly 2010 Georg Hackl Joey Kelly Christian Clerici 2011 Georg Hackl Felix Loch Lucy Diakovska 2012 Georg Hackl Lucy Diakovska Joey Kelly 2013 Georg Hackl Lucy Diakovska Armin Zöggeler 2014 Joey Kelly Georg Hackl Armin Zöggeler 2015 Armin Zöggeler Georg Hackl Joey Kelly 2022 Joey Kelly Lucas Cordalis Jolina Mennen 2023 Joey Kelly Armin Zöggeler Sophia Thiel

Four-person Wok Year Team Drivers 2003 Dick Brave and the Backbeats Sascha Schmitz, Andre Tolba, Felix Wiegand, Martell Beigang 2004 ProSieben team Ralf Zacherl, Stefan Gödde, Dominik Bachmair, Simon Gosejohann 2005 ProSieben team Joey Kelly, Stefan Gödde, Charlotte Engelhardt, Lukas Hilbert 2006 Fisherman's Friend team Sandra Kiriasis, Christoph Langen, Silke Kraushaar, Susi Erdmann 2007 SEAT team Sven Hannawald, Susi Kentikian, Christina Surer, Markus Beyer 2008 Frosta-team Christoph Langen, Susi Erdmann, Silke Kraushaar, Felix Loch 2009 TV total team Stefan Raab, André Lange, Axel Stein, Björn Dunkerbeck 2010 TV total team Stefan Raab, André Lange, Axel Stein, Björn Dunkerbeck 2011 Babybel team Sandra Kiriasis, Tatjana Hüfner, Manuel Machata, Christoph Langen 2012 TV total team Stefan Raab, Felix Loch, Manuel Machata, Tim Lobinger 2013 TV total team Stefan Raab, Felix Loch, Manuel Machata, Steffen Henssler 2014 Otelo team Seldwyn Morgan, Hanukkah Wallace, Marvin Dixon, Wayne Blackwood 2015 Europa Versicherungen/Austria team Markus Prock, Ulrike Kriegler, Marc Pircher, Janine Flock 2022 Chocomel/Germany team 3 Johannes Ludwig, Felix von Jascheroff, Francesco Friedrich, Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle 2023 Zoll-Karriere/Germany team 2 Sven Hannawald, Thore Schölermann, Pascal Hens, Thorsten Legat

Records

Speed records + One-Person-WokPlaceSpeed in km/hHolderYear Innsbruck 91.70 Georg Hackl 2007 Altenberg 81.80 2008 Winterberg 105.40 2009 Oberhof 69.40 2010 Königsee 88.20 2012

+Four-Person-WokPlaceSpeed in km/hHolderYear Winterberg 114.3 Elton & Friends 2009 Innsbruck 97.00 FROSTA 2006

Course Records + One-Person-WokPlaceTime in secondsHolderYearWinterberg47.621Georg Hackl2005 Innsbruck54.840 2007

+Four-Person-WokPlaceTime in secondsHolderYearWinterberg57.117TV total2005 Innsbruck52.527Fisherman's Friend2006

See also Idiotarod Kinetic sculpture race Portland Urban Iditarod Shopping cart race Wife carrying Zoobomb

References