These russian slapping contests seem silly but contestants endure a world of pain

You may have already heard of slapping contests. This strange discipline involves putting two opponents face to face and letting them take turns hitting each other as hard as they can until one person gets knocked out or surrenders. These competitions are very popular in Russia.

Getting serious now

As expected, the Siberian Power Show just had to take up this colourful discipline. This gym dedicated to weight training and sport, and to testosterone in general, hosted an epic competition, which we’re not likely to forget.

In 2019, Vasily Pelmen became the greatest slapper in the world after winning gold at the Male Slapping Championship. He not only won the right to boast at the gym, he also took home 30,000 Russian Ruble, or about £300. Not half bad, right?

A sport with potentially serious accidents

If you were thinking of entering in the competition, think again. This sport isn't for the faint of hearts. This is nothing like the days you and your brother used to slap each other for fun. This is a little more serious.

Heavy slapping can even injure, especially with the more vicious contestants. One of the more controversial methods involves not striking directly with the fingers and palm, but with the end of your wrist bones, to cause a hard impact. Another involves striking with a full palm straight on the ear, in order to cause a compression shockwave against the contestant's eardrum. This is actually very dangerous.