Hungary has a sporting event that few countries could imagine hosting: the International Grave Digging Championship. The eighth edition took place on September 6, bringing together professional cemetery workers to see who could dig and refill a grave the fastest while still keeping it neat and tidy.

Each team of two faced the same task—carve out a grave measuring two meters long (about 6.5 feet), 80 centimeters wide (around 2.6 feet), and 1.6 meters deep (just over 5 feet), then replace about 2.5 tons of dirt. Judges scored them on speed, accuracy, and presentation using a 10-point scale. Clean edges and a tidy burial mound carried almost as much weight as finishing quickly.

This year’s champions were László Kiss and Róbert Nagy of Hungary, who defended their title with a time of 1 hour,

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