Sinéad O’Connor eyes world double bit axe throwing title for Ireland

Sinéad O’Connor spent her build-up to the World Double Bit Axe Throwing Championships throwing around 100 axes a day, turning a punishing training load into a focused run at Ireland’s June 23 title push in Bollnäs, Sweden. The Bundoran-based businesswoman, originally from Dublin, was preparing for the world stage while carrying the loss of her younger sister, Deirdre, and the sport became her outlet as much as her competition.

That emotional weight sat at the center of her campaign. O’Connor did not frame the preparation as a simple quest for hardware. Instead, the training routine became a way to work through grief with structure, rhythm and repetition, three traits that matter even more in double-bit axe throwing, where tiny changes in release and spin can decide whether a throw sticks cleanly or misses altogether.

Her competitive life also runs through her business. O’Connor operates The Rusty Axe experience centre, where she coaches holidaymakers and locals on how to land the perfect spin. That dual role matters in a sport still fighting for broader recognition: she is not only an Irish international, but also one of the people helping build the game at ground level by introducing new throwers to the discipline and keeping the sport visible outside championship weekends.

The world championships gave that work added weight. Double-bit axe throwing remains a niche branch of the sport compared with standard hatchet competition, which makes an Irish thrower’s presence in Bollnäs notable in itself. For O’Connor, the target was not only personal progress but national representation in a format that demands technical precision, heavy repetition and a calm head under pressure.

Her preparation linked three parts of the same story: a family loss that altered the emotional shape of her season, a training volume that showed how seriously she took the event, and a business built on the same skill she was refining for Ireland. In a sport where trust in the swing matters as much as raw power, O’Connor’s world title bid was built on both discipline and resilience.