Lehtikuva / Reuters
Theun "Tremelo Theun" de Jong of Netherlands performs during the 2012 Air Guitar World Championshps in Oulu August 24, 2012.
By Reuters
OULU, Finland -- American Justin Howard, alias Nordic Thunder, was crowned world champion air guitar player late on Friday in the northern Finnish city of Oulu, narrowly ahead of his compatriot Matt Burns, or Airistotle.
Howard, looking like a Viking warrior in his leather tunic, gave an energetic performance that including sliding across the stage bare legged, and won the title with a score of 34.6 points, just ahead of Burns who got 34.4 points.
Martti Kainulainen / AFP - Getty Images
Matt "Airistotle" Burns of USA gives a performance that won him second place.
"I feel amazing, I feel loved, I feel like crying and laughing and hugging," said Howard after winning both the title and the prize of a handmade electric guitar.
Howard was U.S. champion air guitarist last year, and took silver in the 2011 world championship.
The air guitar world championships have been played in Oulu since 1996.
Lehtikuva / Reuters
And the winner is ... Justin Howard, alias Nordic Thunder.
More world stories from NBC News:
- 'Crushing political dissent'? Gambia to execute every prisoner on death row
- Much at stake for US as tensions rise in China Seas
- Chinese hail trash picker who saved 30 babies
- Tropical Storm Isaac threatens Haiti, Dominican Republic
- Israeli protesters warn against war as government appears to prep Iran strikes
- Still hobbled by quake, Haiti awaits Isaac
- German state raids buildings in crackdown on neo-Nazi groups
Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
