WCC Committee - June 8, 2026
2026 World Crokinole Champion, Devon Fortino of Astorville, Ontario, stands centre in front of the World’s Largest Crokinole Board, flanked by long-standing WCC Committee members, Mary Alice Roth and John Schultz.
It was a case of déjà vu as the World Championship final was a repeat of the previous year with Devon Fortino facing off against Shawn Hagarty. In what was a barn-burner of a match, Fortino avenged his loss from the previous year to win the 2026 World Crokinole Championship.
Fortino won the first game of the ‘best of 3’ final, and was one round away from winning the match in the second game before Hagarty extended the match. “He’s such a good player,” said Fortino of his championship opponent, “I was telling myself that I have to win now. I really didn’t want it to go to a third game.”
Nevertheless, Fortino got the lead in the third game and when he was once again one round from victory, he capped off the match with a perfect round (scoring all 8 shots for 20s) to become World Champion.
Fortino and Hagarty are now crokinole’s greatest rivalry, after having played a number of memorable matches, and pushed the boundaries of 20s shooting. A month ago in a match at the Ontario Championships, the pair shot back-to-back perfect rounds in overtime before Hagarty won the match. In the final of a tournament in Tuscarora First Nations last August that Fortino won, the pair shot a combined 85 out of 90 open 20s (94%).
The Fortino vs Hagarty rematch was the fourth rematch in the history of the World Crokinole Championship final. Interestingly, every player who lost their first matchup returned victorious in the second match: Brian Cook lost to Bruce Hartung in 2005 before winning against him in 2007, Cook also lost to Justin Slater in 2010 and won the rematch in 2014, while Slater lost to Jon Conrad in 2012, but won in 2018.
Ryan Buhr of Fort Wayne, Indiana won the 3rd place match against 2019 finalist, Darren Carr of Shelburne. Former champions, Connor Reinman and Jason Beierling, were eliminated in the quarterfinal stage, as were James Medway of Simcoe and Jamie Harter from Stevens Point, Wisconsin.
Devon Fortino is an MRI technician from Astorville who has only been playing crokinole on the competitive circuit for two years, but has already had substantial success, finishing 2nd and now 1st in his only World Championship appearances.
Fortino and Hagarty also faced each other in final of Doubles competition. Hagarty partnered with 3rd place finisher Ryan Buhr and won the championship match by a score of 7-1 against Fortino and his partner Josh Carrafiello, the 2nd place finisher from 2024.
The 3rd place match of the Doubles competition was won by Justin and Fred Slater, previous 5-time doubles world champions, against last year’s victors, Andrew Hutchinson and Jeremy Tracey.
The World Crokinole Championship hosted their 25th annual tournament on Saturday, June 6, 2026 with another year of record setting numbers. 430 people participated including contestants from Japan, Hungary, Germany, Australia, First Nations, 18 US states and 7 provinces.
WEBER WINS AGAIN
2026 Cue Doubles World Champions: Paul Weber, left, and Oscar Weber, right. Oscar Weber later went on to win the Cue Singles title as well.
In the Cues division, Oscar Weber came away with two trophies, winning both the singles category and the doubles with his brother Paul.
It was the 4th time Oscar Weber had won either category. He previously won the singles events in 2004, 2005 and 2024. He first won the doubles championship in 1999 with his brother Enoch, and now has won three times with his brother Paul (previously in 2007 and 2011).
The Webers won the doubles final match against another pair of brothers, Dave and Dennis Brubacher. Last year’s fourth place finishers, Wayne Kipfer and Lorraine Ziegler improved their position to finish third, ahead of Lorne and Karl Steckley.
In the cues singles category, Herb Rau of Kitchener finished second, with David Notzold of Elmira third and Lorraine Ziegler, St. Agatha, finishing fourth. For both Rau and Ziegler the performance was a large improvement, as neither had finished inside of the top 10 before.
In other singles play, David Whyte won the recreational singles title, Knox Clark won the Intermediate division and Morgan Webster won the Junior division.
The Youth doubles competition was won by Dietrich and Jude Clark. The Recreational doubles competition was won by Benjamin Doner and Colin Murphy.
WORLD CROKINOLE CHAMPIONSHIP CELEBRATES 25 YEARS WITH WORLD'S LARGEST CROKINOLE BOARD
Competitors take some time during the day to take shots on the World’s Largest Crokinole Board.
The major show-piece of the 25th World Crokinole Championship was the unveiling of the World’s Largest Crokinole Board. The 10-foot diameter board was manufactured by Tracey Boards.
While used as the backdrop for the photo gallery, the board was also set out for the Friday Night Social and part of Saturday to allow people to play on the oversized board.
On display as well were photos and stories from each year of the 25 year history of the event, along with antique boards, one loaned by Tracey Boards and another from the Tavistock & District Historical Society.
A replica of the Ekhardt Wettlaufer board was also on display, loaned from the Schneider Haus Museum in Kitchener. The board, built in 1876 in Sebastopol, is now 150 years old.
The 25th edition also featured a “Tournament of Champions” event at the Friday Night Social, including nine prior World Champions. The mini-event was won by Hagarty, who defeated Ray Beierling in the finals.
Nine prior World Champions. From left, Jason Beierling (2006 winner), Jon Conrad (’12 & ’13), Ray Kappes (’03), Justin Slater (’10, ’15, ’16, ’18, & ’19), Ray Beierling (’10), Connor Reinman (’23 & ’24), Al Fuhr (’00), Shawn Hagarty (’25), and Bruce Hartung (’05).
Overseas competitors at the event also had a good deal of success. The Hungarian doubles team of Árpád Lonsták and Nikolett Huszárik advanced to the playoffs and ultimately finished 10th, as did the team of Ryotaro Fukuda, of Japan, and Noel Redmond, of Hacketts Cove, Nova Scotia, who finished 12th.
Dennis Graham of North Sydney, Australia was the best placed overseas competitor in the singles competition. He finished 14th in the preliminary round with 56 points, before being eliminated in the Round of 32.
Five players where honoured who share the claim to having attended every World Crokinole Championship, all of whom have been victorious in the tournament at some point. Jason and Ray Beierling have each won the singles competition once in addition to the doubles competition eight times. As previously mentioned, Oscar Weber is now a four-time winner of both the cues doubles and singles events. Ray Kappes won the singles title in 2003, while Clare Kuepfer won the doubles title with partner Nathan Walsh in 2017.
The World Crokinole Championship Committee wishes to thank all of the players who attended the event, the number of which astonishes the committee each year that it grows to a new level.
The WCC Committee also expresses deep gratitude to the local sponsors who contributed to the event, and the vast number of volunteers who helped run the event. The efforts from our referees, scorekeepers, emcee and those who assisted in the setup and cleanup of the event were tremendous.
Photographer Margaret Herlick was onsite capturing the events of the day. A full gallery of photos will be available on ML Herlick Photography website that can be viewed here: ML Herlick Photography - World Crokinole Championship.
Video of the playoff matches from the 2026 World Crokinole Championship will be posted online at the Tracey Boards YouTube channel: Tracey Boards.
Additional videos of select matches will be made available courtesy of Jamie Harter, and posted on the YouTube channel USA Crokinole: USA Crokinole.
In advance of the tournament CBC Radio interviewed competitor Simon “The Spider” Dowrick. The interview can be accessed here: CBC Radio.