Strongman Tkadlcik finally overcame a serious injury and won the title of GRAND PRIX champion!

This weekend for the third time the international top of strongman sport came to Pivovar Litovel, which was also this year the traditional host of the World Grand Prix U105 kg competition with the subtitle Gustav Frištenský Memorial. Several stars of strength sport appeared at the start, among them, for example, Irishman Matthew McKeegan, the world record holder in deadlift, World's Strongest Man up to 80 kg, Frenchman Ben Donin or Czech icon of this sport Jiří Tkadlčík.

As the organizers announced before the competition, it was one of the toughest strongman competitions in the world, which was very unique in its composition of disciplines. One of the interesting features was for example the last discipline called CRAZY MEDLEY, consisting of five unique stations, which competitors had to complete within 90 seconds. All 5 stations of this medley, which was just the icing on the cake after four difficult disciplines, could easily be worth one separate race. Due to the extreme weather, with temperatures climbing to 40 degrees in the shade, the difficulty of the race rose even higher.

• The world's strongest men competed in five disciplines:
• Pressure Medley for 2 rounds - Clean and press 130 kg, Loglift 130 kg, Single arm 80 kg, Push press 150 kg / in 2 rounds in a row.
• Farmers walk 140 kg / 15 m + Super Yoke 400 kg / 15 m.
• Long distance stone throw (50 kg) / 3 attempts.
• Deadlift Medley - Axle 300 kg, Texas bar 325 kg, elephant bar 350 kg, car deadlift 350 kg
• Crazy Medley - Zercher squat 220 kg, farmers walk 130 kg / 15 m, One arm 80 kg, Super Yoke 350 kg / 15 m, Clean and press 130 kg.

Unusually two-round first discipline tested both the competitors' pushing abilities and their physicality. The time limit of 90 seconds was quite modest and only two competitors were able to complete the whole discipline - Jiri Tkadlcik from Prerov and Patrik Zelezko from Slovakia. It is Zelezkov who ranks among the best middleweight pushers in the world.

The second discipline was more conventional and did not surprise the competitors too much. However, only Tkadlcik managed to run a time under 30 seconds, thus consolidating his leading position right at the beginning of the race. Right behind him was the aforementioned Frenchman Donin, who is the new rising star of middleweight strongmen.

Then came the spectator-attractive 50 kg stone throw into the distance, which attracted the spectators so much that the public tried this discipline during the break. However, Dan Chris Gjerlevsen, who threw over 4.4 metres, was not beaten by any of the spectators or by anyone in the starting field.

The organizers went back to the roots of the competition in the deadlift medley, as this medley is a pronounced tradition of the Memorial. None of the dumbbells is less than 300 kg and the fourth station is lifting a car, which this year took the form of a huge SUV. Although Tkadlcik is a former record holder in this discipline, it was because of former injuries that he did not finish the discipline and decided to withdraw at the third station. The discipline was won by the lightning-fast and well-prepared Matthew McKeegan, with Ben Donin also finishing close behind.

The fifth "royal" discipline mentioned earlier really took the last vestiges of strength from the competitors. Here too McKeegan confirmed his dominance on the world stage and won the last discipline of the race by 10 seconds. He was followed by Benjamin Machala from Slovakia, who was quietly working his way up to the overall bronze. The silver went to the aforementioned Irishman McKeegan, while the gold and the title went to Tkadlcik, who confirmed his comeback after a serious injury, and spoke mainly to his rivals in his speech:

"I would like to pay tribute to all the competitors who took part in this year's World Grand Prix. It was definitely one of the hardest races of my life, both because of the disciplines, which were difficult and challenging, and because of the extreme weather. I can't express how grateful I am that competitors fly from all over the world to race in the Czech Republic, and I'm glad we all had a great time and put in great performances. We are united by our love for this crazy sport. It was an honor to race alongside you."

The entire race was a tribute to Gustav Frištenský, who has become a legend in power wrestling, so it is not surprising that Gustav's nephew Frank Frištenský and his great-niece Zdená Frištenská also attended the race in person. Both of them, together with the brewer Petr Kostelecky, presented the prizes to the winners.

In spite of the scorching sun, several hundred spectators kept cheering until the end, and just before that, they encouraged the non-racing world record holder Emanuel Pescari from Austria to give an exhibition performance. This brought 20 thousand crowns from the Litovel brewery, whose brewer Petr Kostelecky handed over the cheque to the hospice director Marta Št'astná.