Europe's Strongest man 2026 - results

We are rewriting history, not us specifically, not us as a nation, but one Czech dude from Brno. I predicted a great future for Ondra as such. Even though at the beginning of his career it looked like he would not step out of the shadow of his friend from the SPC gym Lukáš Pepr, it happened and now Ondra is not only the Czech, but also the world's top strongman. He competed at Europe's strongest man for the third time this year. Last year and the year before Ondra took a great fourth place. This year I can say without exaggeration that he dominated the race with start-finish style. But we will tell you more in the report.

This year the famous race for the strongest man in Europe took place on 11th April again in Leeds, UK. The race was also interesting for the Czech fan because besides Ondra Fojtů our colours were represented by Matyáš Funiok. Who would have imagined just a few years ago that they would see one Czech, let alone two, at a race of this magnitude.

The race was held in the standard Giant's Live mode, i.e. a total of 5 disciplines:

• Webster Stones
• Loglift
• Deadlift
• Medley
• Atlas Stones

Competitors included, among others, local Luke Richardson, winner last year, and Pavlo Kordiyaka from Ukraine, who won in 2023.

Webster Stones

A 20m long course, 2 stones weighing 113 and 136 kg with damn narrow metal eyelets as handholds. The aim was to go as far as possible. Third place, Adam Bishop, 34.99 metres. Second place Pavlo Kordiyaka 40 meters. Category winner Ondrej Fojtů in a world record 51.75 meters. Matyas managed a great 27.49 meters and took a great 5th place.

Loglift

Beautiful pairs discipline and beautiful wooden logs weighed exactly 150 kg. On the one hand, some may say that this is not enough for strongmen of this category, but it went for reps. So I think it was heavy enough. The third place was shared between the fantastic Matyas Funiok, Pavlo Kordiyaka and Kevin Hazeleger from the Netherlands. They did 7 reps. Luke Richardson beat them by one and took second place. Ondra Fojtů was the only one who managed to do 9 repetitions.

Deadlift

This year the organizers chose the Axle deadlift variant, i.e. with a thick grip. Competitors competed again in pairs. The weight of the weights was 350 kg. Matyas Funiok performed 6 awesome reps and took third place in the discipline. Adam Bishop and Patrick Eibel from Germany shared second place with 7 reps. Ondra Fojtů and Paddy Haynes, who is one of the best deadlifters in the world, shared the victory on the discipline. Both of them gave 8 reps.

Medley

Trunks topped with stairs of strength. On the one hand, absolutely fantastic medley, which I haven't seen yet. Each suitcase weighed 150 kg. Then for 3 stairs you had to stack 2x 250 kg weights. Third place Paddy Haynes with a time of 28.28 seconds. Second place Pavlo Kordiyaka with a time of 27.21 seconds. Ondra Fojtů won the discipline, finishing in a great time of 25,84 seconds and still managed to smile, as if each discipline gave him more and more strength and energy... Matiáš took fourth place with a great time of 31.01 seconds.

Atlas Stones

Giant's Live classic 5 concrete balls - stones weighing from 100 to 180 kg. It was necessary to stack them on pedestals, with the lightest stone having the highest pedestal and gradually decreasing with increasing weight of the stone. Ondra, considering his results so far, was already comfortable enough to take the 6th place to collect the most points. Matyáš then took a nice 8th place in the discipline. Third place went to Pavlo Kordiyaka with a time of 20.84 seconds. Second place then went to Adam Bishop with a time of 20.19 and the win was taken by Paddy Haynes with a time of 20.19 seconds. And I still wonder what time Tom Stoltman would have had...

What can I say in conclusion? ONDRA FOJTŮ IS SIMPLY THE BEST. Is that good enough? Does it make sense to leave the point at the end, when we know that Ondra won 4 disciplines completely, won one of them separately and rested at the end? It doesn't. Ondra Fojtů takes the historic first place at Europe's Strongest Man 2026 and rewrites the history of Czech Strongman. But Matyas Funiok was definitely not left behind. He took a fantastic 5th place. I think that this year's World's Strongest Man will be very interesting. Anyway, thank you guys for a great and bravura representation of Czech sport.