Arnold Strongman Classic 2023 | Results and reportage

The feast of strongman sport is back. Another edition of the 2023 Arnold Strongman Classic was held as part of the Arnold Sports Festival . Strongmen measured their strength on March 3 and 4, 2023 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. This is one of the two most prestigious competitions ever and every competitor since 2002 has been honored to compete or even win here. Zydrunas Savickas - Big-Z from Lithuania is the record holder with eight titles. Only once has the race been cancelled and that was in 2021 due to a coronavirus pandemic. This year's event was divided into two days.

On the first day, competitors competed in two events: the Wheel of Pain and the Australian Oak Push-up. Elephant bar Deadlift, Unspun Stone Throw and Frame Carry. Among the ten competitors on the start list were some big names, the current two-time World's Strongest Man title holder Tom Stoltman, and his ten years older brother Luke. Ukrainian fighter Pavlo Nakonechnyy, Canadian Mitchell Hooper, a discovery of last year's international scene, and also the now matador, the eternally second Polish Mateusz Kieliskowski, who for the last four years has been unable to get into shape due to various types of injuries that occurred during competitions or training.

Wheel of pain

A replica of the Wheel of Pain - the grain mill from the movie Conan the Barbarian, weighing just over 9 tons - 9,072 kg to be precise - was presented at the Arnold Strongman Classic in 2019. Its size and imposingness disarmed many a competitor. The spectators, however, are literally thrilled. At the same time, it is the only type of equipment that does not move, due to the size and complexity of the entire mechanism, it remains in the hall where the competitions are held all year round. The fighters have the task of covering the greatest possible distance calculated in feet, but I have recalculated the results for the European spectator. In the Czech Republic, we know a similar discipline as Conan's wheel, where a weight on a swivel joint is lifted and carried. It can be seen at more and more races, it was used a lot by the organisers in Čáslav for example. After an incredible fight, the third place went to Michtell Hooper, who managed to cover a total of 28.65 meters. Just less than a meter more was managed by the giant from the USA Trey Mitchell taking silver with 29.57 meters. However, though not by a steamer, but by a whisker with a course length of 30.68 metres, Maeusz Kieliszkowski showed everyone that he is not yet part of the old iron, taking full points from the discipline.

Log lift - Austrian oak

Perhaps the most well-known discipline in strongman sport - Log lift. Its various variations are connected with the beginning of this strength sport since the 1970s. Since the nineties, the log has been mostly normalized. This means that the handles have defined spacing and grip thickness. The diameter of the log has also been uniformly defined at 31,5 cm. Since then, metal substitutes for the logs have generally been used, with spikes at the end to allow more weights to be loaded. It wasn't until the Anrnold Strongman Classic that they came up with the idea of having a standardized, but wooden and beautiful log - a log that could be at the competition. They named it Austrian Oak, as Arnold himself was nicknamed. Since then, similar, wooden logs have been used at prestigious or at least better competitions, thus the Slater log, but also the well-known at home Jeníkovský Oak.

Today's standard at races is a representative log. At this year's event, competitors could choose between a lighter and a heavier log, with one repetition with the heavier log scoring more points than all the repetitions with the lighter one. The lighter one - 175kg - was ultimately chosen by two competitors. Kevin Faires and Luke Stoltman, with Luke I'm quite surprised, because not so long ago he was doing 200kg reps in training and preparing to break the Loglift world record, the one currently held by Cheick Sanou - Iron Biby from Burkina Faso, when he managed to get 229kg over his head in 2021 and beat Zydrunas Savickas' long-standing record by a single kilogram. So at Arnold, most went for the heavier 195 kg log. A split second and third place were taken by Bobby Thompson and Mitchell Hooper, who managed 3 reps. Hooper was a bit lucky in this regard, as he got second if so-so, but he did manage one more rep in the end. 4 valid attempts and the event win went to Trey Mitchell, who once again proved that he can do the push-ups.

After this fantastic result the competitors headed back to the facilities and hotel to recharge for the next day of competition.

Deadlift - Elephant bar deadlift

The deadlift at maximum weight, i.e. its variation with a very long barbell, is actually a classic at Arnold. Jiří Tkadlčík does this discipline perfectly at home. The performance of competitors in this variation is usually better than with the classic deadlift axis. By making the Elephant bar longer, it can bend more and the whole weight is lifted up when the competitor is in a more upright position. Anyway, the second day started out literally dramatically at Arnold. Tom Stoltman apparently clipped something on his hip, and it didn't look pretty.

He continued to race, but he certainly didn't live up to his expectations. Although the fact is, there's no need to speculate, and World's Strongest Man is a completely different type of race. Hopefully he'll be okay for the WSM. Pavlo Nakonechnyy, who is an aspirant to break the deadlift world record held by Hafthor Bjornsson, and who was a big favourite to win the event was injured. Unfortunately, it looks like a torn hamstring, which is quite unpleasant. The bronze was taken by Rob Kearney, who hopefully has also nursed all his past injuries. He lifted 436 kg. Second place and silver went to the excellent and comprehensive Mitchell Hooper, who managed a great 445kg. Full points went to Bobby Thompson, who put 447 kg.

Unspunnen stone throw - Unspunnen stone throw

This year's premiere discipline, I wonder how many other competitions will be inspired, because it didn't look bad at all. Originally a Swiss traditional sport, it involves throwing an 83.5kg stone into the distance. Everything was open at the beginning because throwing is also about technique. So if the competitors studied on the internet, they could come to a good placement. The bronze went to Mitchell Hooper with a throw of 3.19 metres. T-Rex Thomas Evans took second place with a 3.23 meter throw. Mateusz Kieliszkowski was the furthest behind with 3.47 meters. He took his second victory in the events.

Frame Carrying - Timber Carry

Carrying the frame, another fantastic discipline. You take a wooden or metal frame with handles. The competitor takes this in their hands and runs a prescribed distance with it. You could almost argue that this parade will come in handy for Saturday supermarket events. But what if I say that the weight of the frame is 400 kg, normal for strongmen and us... this weight really carries. The other cherry on the cake about Arnold is that the 15 metres he runs with it is uphill. And I guarantee you, that's a whole other ball of wax. The third fastest sprinter uphill with a 400 kg frame around him was Mitchell Hooper from Canada, who ran the course in 14.61 seconds, that's faster than one meter in one second, a massacre, there are many people who can't do that speed without weights... Kevin Faires was a bit faster, he did the course in 13.31 seconds. But the Ussain Bolt of the starting field was the Polish matador Mateusz Kieliszkowski, who took the course in 8.35 seconds.

It was a typical American race, spectacular, well prepared. The spectator scene was great and it would have been really interesting to see it all with our own eyes. Okay, back to earth again, but watching it online wasn't bad either. I really enjoyed the race. The results turned out the way they did, the Stoltman brothers totally blew it, so hopefully it's just a rough preparation for World's Strongest Man 2023, which is just 2 months away. Mitchell Hooper has taken the very top professional strongmen by storm and has now proven that he is right here and that he intends to stay, if not reign. Mateusz, despite no one getting younger has still proved that he can, but that he always gets away with a little bit. Not to put too fine a point on it, the overall bronze and third place with a total of 29.5 points goes to American Bobby Thompson, who lost the most on the pain lap but then gave a steady performance. Second place went to the eternal second place Mateusz Kieliszskovwski, who is fast, strong, but he doesn't do deadlifts, and this time he didn't even do a log lift. His point total is 37,5. Gold, the title and the victory go to Canada. Bravo, Mitchell. Hooper didn't win a single event, but he took four third places and one second, giving him a total of 41.5 points.

The race is over, the rest of the season ahead. Hopefully the star constellation will be favourable and I will be able to bring you more reports, not only international ones but domestic ones as well.