Pavlo Kordiyaka dominated Europe's Strongest Man 2023 | Report and results

Thirteen gentlemen gathered at the weekend and had a joint training session to show who was the strongest in the country. Okay, as an introduction, I'm gonna try some facts. One of the most prestigious once-a-year races held under the banner of Giant's Live took place on Saturday 1st April 2023. No it wasn't an April Fool's Day gathering of enthusiasts, it was Europe's Strongest Man 2023. The now traditional spring race for Europe's strongest men took place in the heart of England in a city called Leeds.

The organizers prepared a variety of disciplines for the competitors, which were designed to test the overall strength of all competitors. Most of the disciplines are already such a standard in strongman sport, but at the same time, every now and then there are those that were thrown to the back of the warehouse and slowly the dust fell on them. The competitors competed in the following disciplines:

• Log ladder - several logs of different weights for time.
• Load and push - load and push
• Deadlift - deadlift
• Conan's wheel - Conan's wheel
• Atlas stones - Atlas stones

So we would have the disciplines, but who competed in the race itself? First of all, I'm a little disappointed that both Stoltman brothers were absent, with the younger of the brothers, Tom, still the reigning World's Strongest Man, having won his second title in Sacramento last year. On the other hand, after their fall at the Arnold Strongman Classic 2023, they seem to be focusing on the highlight of the season, the World's Strongest Man 2023, which will be held in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA, in about a month and a bit. Among the best strongmen in Europe, however, Oleksii Novikov from Ukraine, who last year completely dominated the entire competition, was not missing. Among the other names we can find the most famous from the world's top strongman sport - Aivars Shmaukstelis, Adam Bishop, Konstantine Janashia, Graham Hicks, but also last year's newcomer Pavel Kordiyak, or the strongest strongman of Germany Dennis Kohlruss and others, the complete list can be found below in the results table.

The competition was a one-day event, in the same format as we know competitions in the Czech Republic. So let's get into a more detailed description

Log Ladder

Log, or log belongs to strongman sport as inherently as a camel to the desert. Only in the last few years the word ladder has been added to it. I can translate that for our audience as ladder. Of course, no one ever walked up a ladder, let alone a log. In this sense, a log ladder is several logs - log lifts in a row. At the Leeds race, there were a total of 5 fat pieces that weighed between 120 and 180 kilograms. Each one a little heavier. The challenge for the strongmen was to lift each one above their heads and, on the signal from the referee, drop it and move on to the next one, all in the shortest time possible. Third place for his excellent performance of lifting 4 logs in a time of 40.98 seconds went to Iceland's Exthor Ingolfsson Melsted. Second place went to defending champion Oleksii Novikov, who also managed 4 logs, but in a faster time of 38.35 seconds. However, the gold in the discipline was won by the guy who was the only one to complete even the hardest log, thus completing all 5 pieces in 52.55 seconds. Another Ukrainian Pavlo Kordiyaka took the lead in the standings.

Load and Push

The load and push discipline will definitely test the fitness of everyone. One of the interesting running disciplines, which is very attractive for the spectators, mainly because you won't see guys who weigh over 150 kg running anywhere else but here. It's not so much a technical discipline, but you need to spread your strength. The challenge was to load the anvil into the trolley, then add a sandbag and finally a tyre. The trolley was then towed back to the original starting point. The bronze medal went to Britain's Adam Bishop, who did it all in a fantastic time of 49.80, the first to break the 50-second mark. The silver of the discipline went to Oleksiy Novikov, who completed the entire discipline in 46.07. The fastest aspirant for the Mover of the Year was again the well-prepared Pavlo Kordiyaka, who ran the course in an incredible 44.14 seconds. Unfortunately Graham Hicks did not take part in the second event, probably due to illness or infection in his body. Unfortunately, coronavirus separation has caused the flu epidemic aka the guy's cold to run rampant with unusual force. I just hope that Graham pulls through and we will be watching him at least in qualifying at Myrtle Beach again at full strength.

Deadlift

A friend of mine, I don't know if I can name him, said that if there is no deadlift in any form at strongman events, it's as if the race is incomplete. So you are right Martin (Martin Sedlacek - retired professional strongman) this year's Europe Strongest Man 2023 is complete. This year's deadlift was completely classic, only strongman style snatches were allowed. 350 kg was lifted for the number of reps. Whoever did more in the one-minute time limit got more points. How simple. And with some excellent deadlifters in the starting field, it was something to behold. Third place was taken by two Pa O'Dwyer and Aivars Šmaukstelis - 7 reps, wow., only two competitors were better and they also gave the same number of reps - 9 pieces, again I repeat with 350 kilos. A sensational performance was given by Adam Bishop, who surely wanted to repair his reputation after a failed log, and the fantastic Oleksii Novikov. Oleksii took the overall lead of the competition with his performance.

Conan's Wheel

Conan's Wheel, at Europe's Strongest Man 2023 in its classic form, as opposed to the Arnold Strongman Classic 2023 where they have a wheel of pain. In Leeds, it was very similar to the disciplines seen at our home events under the Conan's Wheel name. There was no hook or catch, all you had to do was take the handrail and walk around for as long as the competitor's legs would carry them and the air would flow in their lungs. I know from my own experience that this discipline can be pretty steamy. In order to make the discipline measurable, the angle of the distance the competitor was able to cover was measured, with 360° being one complete go around (lap). Third place went to the giant Melsted, who managed just over 2 laps, or 760°. Silver, third overall in the race, goes to Oleksiy Novikov, who managed 897°. The best Conan for the day was a fighter who doesn't look like much in stature, but has the strength for at least 10 more. Pavlo Kordiyaka walked and walked and walked until he almost didn't even stop, he managed a cruel 1009°. Unfortunately another competitor did not enter this event, Gavin Bilton had to withdraw from the race for unspecified reasons.

Atlas Stones

The Atlas Stones have been a staple of the world's strongman competitions since time immemorial. It is not uncommon for this discipline to count as the main event with the same final score of competitors. So if you're going to compete at Giant's Live or similar events, it pays to be trained. It's different at our home races, where the same number of points counts towards the overall discipline standings. For example, the reigning world's strongest man Tom Stoltman is an expert in atlases, until recently I could boldly say that when Tom races, it's always for second and other places... But Tom's missing, so it's wide open. Although this is de facto the same course as Log Ladder, it is not called "ladder" here. The competitors have one task, to carry all 5 stones, weighing between 100 and 180 kg, to the pedestal as quickly as possible. Most of the competitors were able to handle all the stones. The bronze medal went to Exthor Ingolfsson Melsted, who unloaded the rocks in 22.1 seconds. The second place was taken by the well-prepared and well-tuned Pavlo Kordiyaka, who made his strongman pro debut here last year, and managed to handle the rocks in a great 21.76 seconds. However, the gold in the discipline went to Aivars Šmaukstelis from Latvia, he threw the stones in 20.47 seconds.

The race is over, the cruel mathematics on the shoulders of the organizers, on the other hand for the attentive spectator everything is clear immediately. But before I write the name of the winner, I'll start again from the back. Latvia's Aivars Šmaukstelis, whose name in English is literally harder to pronounce than today's deadlift, scored a total of 51.5 points and deservedly took the overall bronze medal. Second place, a fantastic result, I just don't know if it's not a disappointment for him himself, after all he already has the 2020 Strongest Man title at home, he has last year's European Strongest Man title, it's none other than the giant from Ukraine Oleksii Novikov with 53.5 points. Perhaps the only reason to be happy for Oleksii is that he scored 57.5 points overall, failed one discipline in the competition, one second place and three times best in the discipline went to his friend and compatriot originally from Lviv, Ukraine, the giant fighter and strongman Pavlo Kordiyaka. Huge congratulations Pavlo, I have already written something about you and I know that there will be more titles.

One thing I would add to Paul, early last year before the world went mad, before the war, we were still planning to meet Kiev together with Oleksiy and other people. I still hope that one day that meeting will happen, we will discuss everything interesting, especially there will be no more war and everyone will be able to concentrate fully on what he himself wants. Either way it will be very interesting to watch this year's World's Strongest Man 2023.