Cincinnati will host the 2026 U.S. National Steinholding Championships on Saturday, November 21, organizers announced on October 21. The competition will be held at the Cincinnati Lager House Restaurant & Brewery and the Schmidlapp Event Lawn & Stage in Smale Riverfront Park, at 115 Joe Nuxhall Way, bringing the country’s top men and women steinholders to the riverfront for the national title.
Steinholding, also known as Masskrugstemmen, is a traditional test of strength and endurance in which competitors hold a filled one-liter stein straight out in front of their bodies for as long as possible. The U.S. Steinholding Association, founded in 2015, is the national governing body for the sport in the United States, overseeing official rules, qualifying competitions and state and national championships.
Competitors earn their way to Cincinnati through state championship tournaments across the country, and the association has also opened wild card competitions for venues to sponsor competitors from states without a state championship. The winners of the men’s and women’s divisions in Cincinnati will each take home a grand prize of $4,000 in cash, according to the association.
The full slate of entertainment on November 21 begins at noon, with Bavarian games scheduled from noon to 2 p.m. and a celebrity steinholding challenge at 2 p.m. Exhibition matches open to anyone in attendance begin at 3 p.m., with separate men’s and women’s divisions, and the men’s and women’s national championship finals begin at 4 p.m., followed by an awards ceremony. The event is free and open to the public, and the association said the championship competitions will also be streamed on its YouTube channel.
The championships will take place during the opening weekend of the Servatii Cincinnati Christkindlmarkt at the Lager House, which the association’s schedule lists as holding a soft opening on Thursday, November 19 and a grand opening on Friday, November 20 from 5 to 9 p.m. Organizers said the market weekend will include craft vendors, food, live music and entertainment alongside the competition.
Cincinnati also hosted last year’s national championships, where, according to Greg Hardman, managing member of the Cincinnati Lager House and founder of the Cincinnati Christkindlmarkt, Cody Bane held his stein for 29 minutes and set a new world record. Hardman said competitors are coming to Cincinnati after advancing through state championships across the country, and Ben Huffman, executive director of the Cincinnati Regional Sports Commission, said the championships are the kind of distinctive sporting event that showcases Cincinnati as a destination, adding that the commission looks forward to welcoming competitors, their families and fans back to the city.
For Southwest Ohio residents, the November 21 event adds a national championship to the riverfront calendar on the same weekend the Christkindlmarkt opens for the season. Fans who want to try the sport themselves can enter the public exhibition matches on site that afternoon, while those who cannot attend in person can watch the finals on the association’s livestream.
Photo: Andy Hemmer, CC BY-SA 4.0