Arnold Strongman Invites Most Elite

Arnold Strongman Invites Most Elite

The Arnold Strongman Classic will welcome the world’s most elite strength athletes in 2009. Invited athletes for 2009 include top USA Strongman Competitors: Phil Pfister (West Virginia), Derek Poundstone (Connecticut), Travis Ortneyer (Texas), Brian Siders (West Virginia)), and Minnesota’s Dave Ostlund.

Top Invited European Strongman Athletes include Mikhail Koklyaev (Russia), Andrus Murumets (Estonia), Benedikt Magnusson (Iceland), Ervin Katona (Serbia), Oleksandr Pekanov (the Ukraine), and the elusive Mariusz Pudzianowski (Poland).

Top performers from the past have included six-time champion Zydrunas Savickas of Lithuania, who is taking a year off but vows to return in 2010; USA’s Phil Pfister, former winner of tv’s “World’s Strongest Man” contest; Mariuz Pudzianowski, five time winner of the “WSM” event; Vasyl Virastyuk of the Ukraine, former “WSM” champ Svend Karlsen of Norway, and Mark Henry, the winner of the first Arnold Strongman Classic in 2002.

The giant athletes who will face off in 2009–averaging 6′3″ and 350 pounds–will perform in front of a mesmerized crowd at the Arnold Fitness EXPO, with the final event Saturday evening on the Arnold Classic stage at the Memorial Auditorium. The athletes compete in six brute strength events for more than $150,000 in awards, the coveted $10,000 bronze statue of legendary strongman Louis Cyr, and the right to be known as the Strongest Man in the World.

Events in the Arnold Strongman Contest are annually designed and supervised by Drs. Terry and Jan Todd of the University of Texas at Austin along with Scotland’s David Webster and Strongman legend Bill Kazmaier.

In 2009 the events will include the Apollon Wheels, a unique barbell first used by turn-of-the century strongman Louis “Apollon” Uni of France. The “Wheels” resemble two train wheels welded to a thick bar for a total weight of 366 lbs. and up until the first Arnold Strongman Classic in 2002 only three men had lifted it overhead.

Another event is the Tire Deadlift, in which the Strongman athletes lift a bar 14 feet long and weighted with up to 8 truck tires, plus steel plates.

Other events include the Circus Dumbbell, in which contestants lift a 202 lb. old-time dumbbell, with one hand, as many times as possible in 90 seconds; the Manhood Stones (Savickas lifted the world record 525 lb. stone over the chest-high three times in 2008.); the Heavy Yoke, in which the Strongmen carry a 1,116 lb. shoulder yoke as fast as they can for a distance of approximately 36 feet; and the Timber Carry (Farmer’s Walk), in which the competitors have 30 seconds to lift and carry an 865 lb. frame–made of barn timbers and bolted together–up a 32’ incline ramp.

In 2008. Zydrunas Savickas of Lithuania won two events over an international field to capture the 7th Annual Arnold Strongman Classic title. Savickas, the winner for the sixth year in a row received a $40,000 check from Gerard Dente of MHP, a $25,000 Audemars Piquet watch from Robert Ronan, the Louis Cyr bronze trophy and congratulations from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The total prize package for the winner of the 2008 Arnold Strongman Classic–approximately $75,000–is the largest ever given in the sport.

Overall there were 12 world records set throughout last year’s competition, and Savickas set three of them. In the Tire Deadlift he lifted 1,027 lbs. In the Circus Dumbbell he tied with Derek Poundstone for the world record with nine lifts each. In the Manhood Stones he lifted the 525 lb. stone three times.

Finishing second was Derek Poundstone of America. He received $20,000 from Brian Cavanaugh on behalf of GNC.

The order of the other finishers was:

• 3rd place: Mikhail (”Misha”) Koklyaev of Russia received $15,000 from Steve Blechman of Muscular Development.
• 4th place: Andrus Murumets, from Estonia, received $10,000 from Dave Conlon of MuscleTech.
• 5th place: Tie: Brian Siders of West Virginia and Benedikt Magnusson, of Iceland, each received $7,000 from Flex Wheeler of All American EFX and from Bernardo Gonzaga of Amino Vital.

• 7th place: Phil Pfister, West Virginia, USA, received $5,000 from Rich Gaspari of Gaspari Nutrition.
• 8th place: Oleksandr Pekanov of the Ukraine received $3,000 from Michael Carrubba of Vitamin Shoppe.
• 9th place: Van Hatfield of the United States received $2,000 from Shaun Eckhardt of TwinLab.
• 10th place: Vasyl Virastyuk of the Ukraine, who was injured early in the competition, received $1,000 from Bill Windscheif of Gold’s Gym International.

Purchase a VIP ticket to see every event at the Arnold Sports Festival including all Arnold Strongman events. The preliminaries are Friday and Saturday in the Arnold EXPO. Finals are Saturday night after the Arnold Classic at Veterans Memorial Auditorium. You can purchase Arnold EXPO tickets to see the preliminaries and a ticket for the finals at Ticketmaster.