Top Four from theDark Horses Qualifying Advance to the Air Guitar World Championships Final

The top four from the Air Guitar World Championships Dark Horses Qualifying made it to Friday's 1st final round.

Competitors who advanced from the qualifying round:

Dave “Iron Age” Chen, Taiwan 16,7
Toshio “Shariten KD” Kado, Japan 16,7
Frédéric ”French Kiss” Reau, France 17,0
Apolline “Lady Attila” Andreys, France, 17,2

The qualifying round was watched by 2500 people at Pokkisenpuisto park in Oulu. The event kicked off the Delta Life celebratory weekend, which is the summer highlight of the European Capital of Culture year.

Also competing in the Dark Horses Qualifying were: 

Sven “Spandex” Smith, Great Britain 
Minami “Yometen KD” Kado, Japan 
Eero “One Last Comeback” Ojala, Finland 
David “The Incredible D.FendAIR” Monreal, Germany 
Cole “Slappy Nutz” Lindbergh, USA 
Piers “The Joke’Air” Burnell, Great Britain 
Michael “Airvant-God” Lovely, USA 
Argo “String Theory” Thompson, USA 
Zachary “Ichabod Fame” Knowles, Canada 
Brittany “The Beast Georgia Lunch” Diaz, USA 
Luke “Lucky Luke” Sevcik, USA

In the 1st final round on Friday, August 28th, the top four Dark Horses will face ten national air guitar champions and the 2025 World Champion, Aapo ”The Angus” Rautio from Oulu. The top 8 competitors from Friday will advance to the decisive 2nd final round on Saturday, August 29th.

Competition order for the first final round on August 28, 2026: 

Dave “Iron Age” Chen, Taiwan

Toshio “Shariten KD” Kado, Japan

Frédéric ”French Kiss” Reau, France

Apolline “Lady Attila” Andreys, France

Léonard ”Lenny Pocket” Pollet, Belgium 

Tyler ”Cat Friday” Gardner, Canada 

Fausto ”Heavyer Dannair” Carraro, Brazil 

Aapo ”The Angus” Rautio, reigning World Champion, Finland 

Nanami ”Seven Seas” Nagura, Japan 

Howard ”Devil Narcissus” Lo, Taiwan 

Armin ”The Arminator” Van Schie, The Netherlands 

Saladin ”Six String Sal” Thomas, USA 

Patrick ”Ehrwolf Van Airhoven” Culek, Germany 

Kirill ”Guitarantula” Blumenkrants, France 

Sam ”Airlo Guv’na” Nicoresti, Great Britain

This year, the jury for the Dark Horses Qualifying consisted of: Jani Kortti: A long-time radio professional. Retired Air Guitar World Championships host/MC with over 20 years of experience. Daniel Morcillo: Luleå-based Project Manager for the Arctic Pulse project, connecting the northern music scenes of Sweden, Finland, and Norway. Mari Aholainen: Director of Cultural Centre Valve in Oulu, bassist. Marika Lamberg: Air Guitar World Championships producer from the time of the dinosaurs, a multi-talent in cultural work. José "Pepe" Van Halen: The mysterious, long-lost brother of Eddie and Alex Van Halen.

The 30th Air Guitar World Championships were opened by The Mastairclass's Air Guitar United show, featuring air guitarists from various countries—from New Zealand to Canada—who had been eliminated in previous rounds. The Mastairclass group, who directed the opening number, consists of French and Belgian air guitarists. The evening was hosted by air guitar legend Justin “Nordic Thunder” Howard and Asta Salomaa.

Photos from the Dark Horses Qualifying will be updated to the media folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1J_qaYnVGEzNa_zQt69QsRvQiHOV6nJ-N?usp=sharing shortly after the end of the qualifying round. The photos may be used in the media when reporting on the Air Guitar World Championships; for other uses, permission must be requested. The photographer's name must be mentioned: ___ / Oulu August Festivals. Videos: Air Guitar World Championships.

The Air Guitar World Championships have been held in Oulu since 1996. This year marked the 30th time the World Championship of Air Guitar was contested in Oulu. The sport, which was initially perceived even as absurd, is nowadays an extremely popular global phenomenon that draws international air guitar stars to the North year after year to battle for supremacy in the sport.

Air guitar is played together for world peace. According to the ideology of the competition, wars will end, climate change will stop, and all bad things will disappear if all the people in the world play the air guitar. The sport also stands for equality – literally absolutely anyone can pick up an air guitar, at any time.

The air guitar evening was opened in the traditional manner with the declaration of air guitar peace, and at the end of all the beauty, everyone present got to try playing air guitar together to the tune of Rockin’ in the Free World.

The Air Guitar World Championships are organized by the Oulu-based Airnest Productions Ltd. and the event is part of the Oulu August Festivals.