FAIRBANKS -- Leroy Shangin held one finger skyward with a loop of twine hanging from his thumb. A mixture of sweat and tears caked his face and blood trickled from his swollen ears.

In a performance that was as gruesome as it was gutsy, Shangin won the men's ear pull at the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics on Friday afternoon in the Carlson Center.

Mitsi Evans of Fairbanks took the women's gold in the event that tests a person's pain threshold and often produces bloody ears.

In the event, two people sit on the floor facing each other. Connecting them is a piece of twine looped around one ear of each competitor. Both lean backward until someone gives up or the twine slips off someone's ear.

After five matches -- all wins -- Shangin's ears were a deep purple that in some places bordered on black.

His strategy was to pull first and worry about the pain later.

As for how it felt?

"Like a sledgehammer going off in my head," the Anchorage man said while covering his ears with paper towels.

The best-of-three championship showdown was a rematch between last year's gold-medalist, Jeff Satterfield of Anchorage, and the runner-up, Shangin.

Both contestants had already endured excruciating matches in the double-elimination event.

Satterfield was shaking during his win over Andrew Walker, who took third place, and Shangin was routinely pounding his fist on the hardwood and groaning.

The first pull in the championship match caused some spectators to grimace and turn away. Shangin won and flopped onto his back, wincing and moaning. Satterfield's face turned cherry red.

The second pull was even more intense. Lasting about 5 seconds, Shangin's left ear folded into a red bulb, exposing a bloody crescent, before he triumphed.

Shangin sprang to his feet, raced to the corner of the gym floor, fell to his knees and clasped his ears.

"I just needed to get away from the crowd," he said.

He stood and embraced Amber Glenzel, his former Native Youth Olympics coach -- he calls her his "O mom," a mother he gained through NYO.

Glenzel rubbed Shangin's back and encouraged him after every match. She wiped a spot of blood from her face after the hug.

"I couldn't have done it if she wasn't there," Shangin said. "... She was calming me down because she knew I was nervous."

Satterfield earned his third silver medal in the event to go along with his gold from last year.

He said the key to his success is blocking out noise and distractions. He typically can't even see his opponent once he starts pulling.

"I just black out and pull until it comes off," he said.

Compared to the men, the women's champion had it easy.

Unlike most medalists, Evans didn't need ice bags to dull the pain or paper towels to stop the bleeding.

"I really don't even feel anything," she said.

Evans made it look so easy that her son, 3-year-old Korwin Joseph, wanted to sit in her lap during a few matches.

It was Evans' first gold at WEIO after nearly two decades of competing.