Inside the Delicious Sport of Pizza Tossing

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Tony Gemignani is equal parts chef and athlete. The Italian-American restaurateur is a pro at tossing pizza dough, and can perform complicated feats like tossing the stiff flour mixture high into the air, spinning it around his shoulders or through his legs, and even juggling multiple pizzas-in-progress at a time. Those skills are regularly served up at the World Pizza Games competition.

The acrobatic tournament is held at the International Pizza Expo, an annual industry tradeshow in Las Vegas. Gemignani and other competitors perform pizza-tossing routines set to music, and a panel of judges ranks them according to dexterity, creativity, and the difficulty of their routines.

Watch Gemignani, the 12-time World Pizza champion, in action by checking out Great Big Story’s video below.

[h/t Great Big Story]