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Junichi Nakamura of Japan and Shinichi Sawamura of Fairbanks, Alaska and formerly of Japan crafted a beautiful elephant to take the 6^th De Beers Inspired Ice International Ice Carving Competition in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories by less than a point to capture their second title in the annual event.

The 2015 De Beers Inspired Ice winners and 15-time World Ice Carving Champions finished with a final score of 91.17, just ahead of defending 2017 champions Peter Slavin and Chris Swarbrick who scored 90.20. Aaron Costic and Jeff Meyers were right on their heels with a score of 90.00.

Terry Pamplin of Yellowknife was a last minute fill-in on a team with Stephan Koch and placed a very impressive sixth with a score of 83.63, good for a Silver Medal category and the top finish for Northwest Territories participants.

Gahcho Kué General Manager Allan Rodel was on hand to present the trophies and said this year’s event was by far the best ever. “What an amazing result from three days of intense competition and difficult weather as incredible works of art have been created out of these huge blocks of natural ice from Great Slave Lake, truly making this a unique world-class event the north can be extremely proud of”, said Rodel. “We are also very pleased that our commitment of five years of funding will provide financial stability to the De Beers Inspired Ice International Ice Carving event, which continues to grow and attract the best carvers from around the world. This year was our largest international field with ten teams representing the United States, Japan, Sweden, Belgium and Italy, which is a true indication of the quality of the entire experience."

Keith MacNeill, who has coordinated the event since it began in 2012, said the De Beers Inspired Ice Committee was thrilled the event continued to expand this year. “We are pleased to have hosted our largest event ever’, said MacNeill. “We hosted European teams for the first time, along with new teams from the USA. The Japanese team came back for their second time and second First Place finish. We would like to thank the carvers who attended, whether from afar or right here at home. We would also like to thank De Beers for their renewed five-year commitment and look forward to welcoming everyone back in 2019."

The carvings will be on display at the Long John Jamboree site until Tuesday. For photos from this year's competition, please click here.

The final standings are as follows:

GOLD MEDALISTS

SILVER MEDALISTS

BRONZE MEDALISTS

REMAINING SCORES