A hometown hero wins the Air Guitar World Championships in Finland

By Ayesha Rascoe

Published August 31, 2025 at 8:09 AM EDT

Aapo "The Angus" Rautio has won this year's Air Guitar World Championships in his hometown of Oulu, Finland. It's the first time since 2000 that a Finnish air guitarist has won the world title.

Ayesha Rascoe

Ayesha Rascoe is a White House correspondent for NPR. She is currently covering her third presidential administration. Rascoe's White House coverage has included a number of high profile foreign trips, including President Trump's 2019 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam, and President Obama's final NATO summit in Warsaw, Poland in 2016. As a part of the White House team, she's also a regular on the NPR Politics Podcast.

See stories by Ayesha Rascoe

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