Strongman Kolín 2023 | Results and reportage

On Sunday, August 20, 2023, strong men occupied Charles Square in Kolín. Professional strogymen, the strongest of the strongest, competed here. The weather was almost inhumanly hot, but that could not stop the competitors. They measured their strength in five challenging disciplines:

• Loglift - 140 kg per repetition
• Farmer's walk - 150 kg for 30 meters
• Super Yoke - 400 kg for 30 meters
• Medley - Pneu 80 kg + Sandbag 135 kg + Duck walk 200 kg
• Atlas stone 160/180 kg for reps

Cologne competitions are always a big attraction, not only because Cologne is basically in the middle of our country and it is close from everywhere. Also, that the mecca of strongman sport is nearby Čáslav. But also because the competitions are organized by Jiří Dejmal, a professional strongman who knows how to put his years of experience into his training. He and his entire team always do more than 100% of the work.

In the competition there were 12 local fighters.

Loglift

The race starts off nice and tight. Within the time limit of one minute, everyone had to perform as many reps as possible with a log weighing 140 kg. Log or log is the royal discipline of strongman sport and is in great demand from spectators who are literally hungry for awesome performances. It is also worth mentioning that one of the best Czech strongmen in our history, Ondra Fojtů, a Brno native of SPC Gym, set a world record of 8 repetitions with 150 kg in this discipline and that thanks to this he showed that our small Czech nation is also strong. Congratulations Ondra and I sincerely hope that you will take advantage of the invitation to Giants Live and at least take a box there.

But to return to Kolin, the best pusher of the Sunday day is big Venca, Václav Miláček in third place with 4 reps and the victory in the discipline was shared by Štěpán Bystřinec and Jára Št'astný.

Farmer's Walk

This year, as the second discipline in Cologne, the suitcases were run with an intermediate landing. So, the competitor took a suitcase weighing 150 kg in each hand and ran a 15 m route, put the suitcases down there, turned around and as soon as he reached the milestone he came back again. Nothing more nothing less, I might just mention that whoever was faster got more points. Unfortunately the way I wrote it makes it sound very simple, but again I will repeat, the competitors had a 150 kg suitcase in each hand, so they were carrying a total of 300 kg of load. It was for this reason that only three made it to the finish line with a total distance of 30 meters. Emil Barták finished third with a time of 49.56 seconds. The second was Vít Rozlivka, who completed the 30 metres in 45.96 seconds. The fastest runner in the starting field with suitcases was Zdenda Vávra, who ran the course in 38.42 seconds.

Super Yoke

Another running discipline, which was on the same route as the farmer's walk. The race was 2 x 15 meters. Now the competitors carried a Super Yoke structure on their backs weighing a total of 400 kg. and again it was beyond the strength of most of the starting field. In defence of the strong men, I will again mention the roasting sun and temperatures well over 30°C. Only two made it to the finish line. In second place with a time of 46.79 seconds was the giant Lubos Klinecky and again the sprinter Zdenek Vávra, who covered the 30 meters in 44.55 seconds.

Medley

Discipline combined from several parts. Again it was a running discipline. Litres of sweat literally flowed from the Cologne square through the side streets. The discipline consisted of carrying a tyre weighing about 80 kg for 15 metres, the same route back was used to carry a 135 kg sandbag and a 200 kg weight was carried another 15 metres in the form of a duck walk. For each part of the medley, the intermediate time was counted, but the metres of distance were not counted. All competitors completed the sandbag. But most failed to complete the duck walk within the time limit. The only one who excelled in this discipline was Emil Barták, who took everything. Ideal for a career as a mover.

Atlas stones

The last discipline - Atlas stones, or also concrete balls. Competitors had to throw a stone over the bar in as many repetitions as possible within the time limit. They could choose between 180 kg or 160 kg. There was also the well-known rule that one repetition with a heavier stone is more than all repetitions with a lighter stone. Even so, perhaps due to fatigue, perhaps due to exhaustion from the weather, most chose the lighter stone, even the co-holder of the Czech record for throwing the heaviest Atlas, Luboš Klinecký. Only two competitors chose the heavier stone and succeeded, taking the most points from the discipline. Václav Miláček managed one repetition and Jan Lacina managed three.

The end of the race is here, a moment of suspense before the careful, strict but fair chief judge Pavel Chama recalculates the results and makes a few more checks. In between, the moderator and commentator of most strongman competitions Leoš Kubeš entertains the audience with interesting facts from the strongman world. Here we go. The results are known and clear. The third place with 40 points was taken by a huge, young and promising professional strongman, moreover a cool guy Luboš Klinecký. The second place was taken by Jaroslav Št'astný, almost home from Český Brod, who collected 47 points. The first place and the trophy was also clearly won by the almost local Czechoslovak fighter, entertainer and promoter of strogman sport Zdeněk Vávra. Zdenda scored 51.5 points in total, and thanks to his experience he was able to keep the lead tactically.

As I mentioned at the beginning, Jiří Dejmal and his team know how to prepare races, everything was in a good pace, it was well prepared, keep it up. I just hope that we will see Jiri competing again, I think that the disciplines that were seen at the competition are the ones that even he himself handles literally bravura. So next year?

Results Strongman Cologne