Strongman events 2019

Simpsyla

Central Defender
With Britain's Strongest Man being next weekend I thought now was a timely opportunity to start a thread on this year's strong man events.

My predictions for Britain's and World's are as follows:

Britain's
1. Bishop
2. Hicks
3. Smith

Whilst I'd love to see Hicks win it I believe he struggled with injury second half of last year. After a strong showing from Bishop in the World Tour Finals I think he'll do it.

World's
1. Thor
2. Kieliszkowski
3. Shaw

Going for a repeat of last year's podium. Just can't see anyone touching Thor after his dominance last year. If Kieliszkowski improves his deadlift by as much as he did last year from the previous then he may push him, but it's a big if. Think it was telling that these three also formed the podium in Dubai, albeit with Shaw and Kieliszkowski swapping places.

Also hoping to take in a couple of the local shows - the North qualifier and possibly North Yorkshire's strongest novice as it's not far from me at all.
 


Brilliant night last night. If you want to hold on until Christmas to find out the results stop reading now:











I got two out of the three on the podium correct in my prediction - Hicks won it (absolutely chuffed for him) with 54.5 points and Bishop second with 53. Then Tom Stoltman came in third (46.5).

I can write up a few of the highlights if anyone's interested?
 
Brilliant night last night. If you want to hold on until Christmas to find out the results stop reading now:











I got two out of the three on the podium correct in my prediction - Hicks won it (absolutely chuffed for him) with 54.5 points and Bishop second with 53. Then Tom Stoltman came in third (46.5).

I can write up a few of the highlights if anyone's interested?
Yes defo
 

Event 1 - Log press - 150kg for reps in one minute
Winner(s): Hicks/L Stoltman

Seeing this was the first event gave me more confidence that Hicks would do it, as you knew he'd get off to a strong start. And boy did he make a strong start. He got eight. As did Luke Stoltman. To put that into perspective that is now a joint world record at that weight between Hicks, Stoltman and Big Z. It really set the tone for the evening. Bishop blacked out (!) at the top of rep two and ended up falling backwards. It wasn't pretty but he got back up and managed another couple of reps (!), ending up with four. At the time I thought that fourth may be telling as there were three other athletes who managed three.

Event 2 - Frame carry - git heavy frame for 20m
Winner: Bishop

All eyes were on Shahlei here as he held the world record at 10.10 seconds. Bishop smashed it though. Came in at c. 8.3 (they said 7.1 at first but no-one believed that, I'm not convinced by the 8.3 either to be honest). Hicks came second, with another sub-10 time.

Tom Stoltman came last. His strap came off as he picked the frame up and despite managing to move the frame he didn't finish, so ended up with one point.

At this point Hicks was 5.5 points ahead and I was confident now that he would do it.

Event 3 - Deadlift - 320kg axle for reps
Winner: Bishop

Felix went relatively early in this one and as expected set the pace, with ten. Bishop smashed it though, ending with twelve. Hicks came in third.

Event 4 - Loading race - 2*150kg kegs, 2*130kg sandbags, 1*big tyre, 10m and load into the back of a 4x4
Winner: T Stoltman

T Stoltman was fantastic for this, his mobility was tremendous. It probably helped that it seemed like he only needed to take a couple of steps to get back to pick up the next implement like! Hicks came fifth in this and despite being in the lead looked like he may be starting to flag. I worried for him a bit here. At this point he was 2.5 points ahead, so it was all down to the stones.

Event 5 - Atlas stones - 100 - 180kg
Winner: T Stoltman

Stoltman won this by a country mile - doing all of the stones in just over 18 seconds - including a one movement lift of the 180kg stone. Amazing to watch. To put that into perspective at the World Tour Finals Kieliszkowski did the same stones to the same plinths in just under 18 seconds, so Stoltman's in good company! Going into this Tom Stoltman had 33.5 points, Shahlei had 33.5 points and Luke Stoltman had 33 points - so Tom bagged the podium finish, Luke came ahead of Shahlei to finish fourth and Shahlei was in fifth ultimately.

It was then down to Hicks and Bishop. Bishop beats Hicks (just) but only ultimately by one place, meaning Hicks took it by a point and a half. Really pleased for Hicks.

Unfortunately in the first stone run there was a pretty bad injury. Phil Roberts got stomach cramp and collapsed under the fourth atlas stone - snapping both of the bones in his lower leg in the process. Thankfully the breaks are clean so hopefully should lend itself to a speedy recovery.

Conclusion

Thoroughly enjoyed the night. Everyone pushed themselves to the limit (and beyond in some cases).

Brilliant that Hicks won it (despite not winning any event outright) - proof that consistency and not making any mistakes really pays off!! Bish will take confidence from how close it was (I know it's ifs and buts but if either Bish or Tom Stoltman hadn't had a nightmare of an event each the result could have been different). Tom Stoltman looks to have really matured. Going full time will have helped but he seemed to have a different air about him on Saturday - I think if he'd failed on the frame carry this time last year he may well have just strolled through the competition, but despite that he came back to win the last two events. If he continues like this he will fulfil his potential - which bodes well for UK strongman at World level in my opinion.
 
Quick write up on Europe's at the weekend (contains spoilers):

Hot off the back of his second Arnold victory Thor absolutely smashed it again - he's now won everything he's entered within the past 18 months!

Event 1 - Log press (world championship, with guests) - starting at 175kg up to 220kg
Winner: Championship - Biby (220kg), ESM - Kieliszkowski (214kg)

Well I'd gone hoping to see the world record broken, with both Biby and Hicks in with a shout. Unfortunately it wasn't to be. However, saw Biby do the second biggest ever at 220kg and Hicks break the British record at 214kg. Hicks has said he's going to train almost exclusively for the log next year, so watch this space!

In terms of those continuing for the full competition, Kieliszkowski won it at 214kg but then tried 220kg. This would have been a Polish record but I'm not sure why he tried 220 to be honest - he knew Thor has failed at 214 so he'd won in terms of those carrying on with the competition, and I'm much more likely to remember Europe's Strongest Man and the guy who beat Thor than the second biggest log press ever... It must have cost him valuable energy later on in the competition.

Event 2 - Axle deadlift for reps
Winner: Thor

Thor smashed it - nailing 10 reps in 60 seconds. Kieliszkowski's weakness on the deadlift showed again, I think his chance of winning the competition depended on how high he could place on this and with 5 reps he was seventh of nine. Brian Shaw has offered to train with Kieliszkowski, particularly around the deadlift, if I was him I'd definitely take Shaw up on the offer! However, he is showing improvement in the deadlift from previous competitions.

Event 3 - Tyre flip and anchor drag
Winner: Kieiszkowski

Kieliszkowski came back into his own here, it wasn't as quick as perhaps I (or he) expected but he did enough to come away with the win. Despite falling over with the anchor Thor still managed second.

Event 4 - Hercules hold
Winner: Felix

Despite being 53 next week and only getting a week's notice for the competition Felix still came out for a win, and broke the world record in the process. He smashed the field, winning by 27 seconds, ahead of Thor in second. Kieliszkowski came eighth in this, meaning Thor had won the competition with an event to spare.

Event 5 - Atlas stones
Winner: Tom Stoltman

Stoltman was yet again massively impressive in the stones and had a good competition, he missed out on a podium place by half a point (Janashia getting third).

Conclusion

Great night again. Thor is indomitable at the moment. If not superb he's very good at every event, he just doesn't have a weakness. The only person who I can really see challenging him over the next couple of years is Kieliszkowski, and he needs to sort that deadlift out (albeit it has improved over the last year or so) and he could do with thinking a bit more strategically (see comment on the log lift above). Tom Stoltman continues to improve and I expect him to start hitting the podium at these events shortly and in a couple of years hopefully we can see a three way battle between Thor, Kieliszkowski and Stoltman in the way Shaw and Big Z have done over the last decade or so.
 
Is it just me that can't warm to Thor and his team when you see the way they go on? Admittedly I've only really watched the world's but his huge entourage gets right on my tits. Shame like cos otherwise he seems alright.
 
Is it just me that can't warm to Thor and his team when you see the way they go on? Admittedly I've only really watched the world's but his huge entourage gets right on my tits. Shame like cos otherwise he seems alright.
He’s a bit robotic like even on IG. Got all the charisma of a pencil. No doubt will go on to be the best ever though, gonna take something special to catch him, he’s so young too.
 
Is it just me that can't warm to Thor and his team when you see the way they go on? Admittedly I've only really watched the world's but his huge entourage gets right on my tits. Shame like cos otherwise he seems alright.

I think there's a couple of factors at play:

He has a massive desire to win, and sometimes that brings out the worst in him - i.e. the way he went on with the Viking press the year Eddie Hall won and his complaint about Shaw last year. I think part of the way he channels that is through his having his entourage to back him, and you can't really question the success of it!

Then, his English isn't great, so not only does he have a hard time speaking but also understanding what's being said at times, which I think can make him come across as disinterested.

We met him after the show and he came across much better in person, he had a few words for everyone and was more than willing to have a chat.
 
Three British lads in the final - all getting through on stones - both Stoltman brothers and Bishop. Exciting times!
Bishop only needed to lift 2 stones didn't he?

There's hell on about novichok not getting through, I think they have to do something about points difference like, maybe give an advantage to the 2nd place dependant on how much of a points advantage there is.
 
Bishop only needed to lift 2 stones didn't he?

There's hell on about novichok not getting through, I think they have to do something about points difference like, maybe give an advantage to the 2nd place dependant on how much of a points advantage there is.

I haven't seen any of the footage yet - just picked up on Instagram that the Brits were through.

Hadn't heard about Novichok either - absolutely wounding that for him like, as having gone basically toe to toe with Shaw he may have had a decent shout for a podium place if he'd got the stones done quickly and got plenty of rest. Agree on them having to do something.

Tom Stoltman (19 points) in joint third place (with Caron) with two events left - one of which is stones - in with a massive shout of a podium place. But then has Thor and Shaw breathing down his neck (1 & 2 points back respectively).

Winner looks like it's going to be Licis or Kielizkowski - on 27 and 26 points. I think if Licis is less than 2 points ahead going into stones I'd fancy Kielizkowski - as I think he'll win the stones and Stoltman will come second.

Will know soon enough, looking forward to waking up to the result in the morning!
 
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