European Cup Golčův Jeníkov 2024 | Complete results and report

It's Sunday, July 14, 2024, a sultry summer day, but it rained yesterday and the air is clear. The almost year-long preparation of Pavel Chama and Leoš Kubes is in its final stages. The stage for the spectators is built, the centre of Golčov Jeníkov is closed, the loaders have all the disciplines ready. It's time to start. A little before 8 a.m., the first competitors and, given the 16-year history and notoriety of today's race, the first spectators begin to arrive, even though the race doesn't start until 9 a.m. The next race is not until 2pm.

Amateur race

At the stroke of 8 o'clock Leoš takes the microphone and announces the start of the day. In the morning, the amateur race for strong men starts. Twenty of them have gathered and they are the best of the league. We already know that we will see at least 2 but certainly more among the pros from next year.

Amateur strongmen competed in the following events:

• Loglift for the number of repetitions - 130 kg
• Farmer's Walk 20m - 140 kg
• Axle Deadlift for reps - 250 kg
• Truck pull for 20 meters - 7,5 t
• Medley - Fingal 200 kg + Tyre 450 kg

Loglift

During the warm-up, many competitors told me that those warm-up 100 and 120 kg were probably the lightest in their lives. However, they were loaded to 130 kg for the discipline, which really struggled. Almost half of the starting field was left with zero. On the other hand, Petr Toman, Krystov Ptáček, Damian Polidar, Petr Klich, Luboš Kučera and Matěj Brabec managed a total of 4 reps among the best performances. The only one who managed more was Lukas Tesar. He set 5 beautiful pieces.

Farmer's Walk

The second discipline was running. The suitcases were loaded to 140 kg, which I would dare to point out that just a few years ago such weights were carried by professionals. As it was getting quite hot, the suitcases were in danger of getting callouses. So each of the competitors tried to deal with it in their own way. However, even though it didn't look like it at first, most of the starting field carried their suitcases to the finish. The bronze place with a time of 18.62 went to Kryštof Ptáček.

A bit faster with a time of 18.39 was Lukáš Tesař, who originally wanted to go through the course without laying down, but failed... The fastest of all with his kamikazde style was Martin Szabó, who not only ran the route without putting down the suitcases in a great 12.9 seconds, but also showed a spectacular jump behind the line after dropping the weights.

Axle Deadlift

Axle deadlift is very popular with the organizers this year and it was not missing in Golčov Jeník either. The competitors had the task to set the highest number of valid repetitions with a barbell weighing 250 kg within the time limit of one minute. It was quite a massacre, but due to the large number of competitors and the time demanding nature of the competition, even though the first three disciplines were all paired, the axle deadlift was the last one for everyone. After this discipline there will be an elimination and only the top 10 will speak to the rest of the competition. The joint winners of the discipline were Petr Toman, Richard Tabaček and Petr Klich, who all managed 10 repetitions.

Truck Pull

This time the competitors pulled a tractor weighing 7.5 tons on a rope. For the spectators, this discipline is a bit uncomfortable in that you can't see much of the competitors. They were all hidden behind two huge tyres and still in the sports section so that the truck could be pulled a full 20 metres at a time. On the other hand, such a discipline after deadlifts? Hmmm a decent load on the lower back, just what's the truth. Out of the ten strongmen, not a single one could get the truck to the finish line. All the others then differentiated on time. Richard Tabacek pulled the truck in 27.86 seconds to take bronze in the event. The second place went to Milan Čanda with a time of 26.68 seconds. The fastest tractor-trailer driver was Martin Szabó, who set the fastest time of 26.51 seconds.

Medley

The last discipline of this competition was the medley, where the strongmen had to turn Fingal's finger, which weighs 200 kg, once and then turn the 450 kg tire once. Just for the record, the Fingal's Fingers discipline is not seen much in our country, although it has been better lately. The organizers from Jeníkov have one thanks to the former saltiest man in the Czech Republic Jirko Vytiska, because he donated it to Jeníkov. Exactly half of the starting field, i.e. five fighters, coped with the whole discipline. The third fastest was Martin Szabó with a time of 30.12 seconds. Second place went to Petr Toman with a time of 29.2 seconds. The victory in the discipline went to the evil master Milan Voldemort Čanda with a time of 21 seconds.

Results

After a quick counting of the points everything was clear. The top strongest amateurs confirmed their good form in Golcak. Kryštof Ptáček took the third place and 61 points. The silver position was held by Milan Čanda, who collected a total of 62.5 points. Petr Toman took the victory from Golčov Jeník as the main trophy of one of the best races in the Czech Republic, with a total of 64.5 points. Congratulations

Professional race

After the lunch break, the professional strogmasters slowly started to arrive to measure their strength in today's race. The race as such started at 2 pm. The sun was beating down and those who didn't lubricate themselves turned red as a crayfish. This did not deter the spectators, the stands were full. Among the competitors, apart from the Czech ones, it was possible to see also fighters from Ukraine and Poland.

Professionals competed in the following disciplines

• Loglift to max weight
• Truck Pull
• Farmer's Walk - 170 kg
• Axle Deadlift - 300 kg
• Medley - Final 200 kg + Pneu 650 kg + Fingal

Loglift

The first royal discipline with a great and spectacular oak tree, which was cut down near the square in Golčov Jeníkov. A lot of people don't like it, but there are those who like it. It is a copy of the famous Austrian Oak from Columbus from the Arnold Strongman Classic. The first discipline was also independently rated as the 2024 Czech Republic Championship in Loglift Open category. The other categories had their championships in the spring in Kladno. They started at 155 kg.

Each round 10 kg was added up to 175 kg, then 5 kg was added after that. The third place in the discipline was taken by Pavel Zadražil, Lubos Klinecký and Vaclav Milacek, who managed the basic weight of 155 kg. Second place Matyáš Funiok, last year's winner from Golčov Jeníkov, managed 165 kg. The best lifter and the Czech Republic Champion was Štěpán Bystřinec with a valid performance of 175 kg. And even though he was persuaded to 185 kg, this attempt failed. So it is necessary to say that although the Czech record is held by Ondra Fojtů with 206 kg, the highest weight ever lifted on the Jeníkovský Oak is 180 kg and the first one to do it was Jiří Vytiska.

Truck Pull

The same discipline we could see in the morning. Third place goes to Janusz Kulaga from Poland with a time of 26,12 seconds. Second place František Nový, 25,04 seconds. The win again goes to Tomasz Bator of Poland with a time of 24.37 seconds. It was flying nicely there.

Farmer's Walk

Suitcases again, I don't have much to add here, maybe only that the competitors had to carry 170 kg of weight in each hand, so 340 kg in total. Can any normal person imagine that? Have you ever grumbled about that plastic bag from the store being heavy? Multiply its weight by ten and put one in each hand. I guess that's how a racer might feel. Third place went to the strongman with the best grip in our country, Pavel Zadražil, but he accidentally tapped his foot on one of the suitcases and had to put it down to avoid injury, his time of 28.26 seconds. Second place Pepa Hojdar, a very fast competitor, managed to finish in 22.3 seconds. Štěpán Bystřinec took the victory in the discipline, he finished in a time of 18.27 seconds.

Axle Deadlift

If you load the Axle to 300 kg, some 15 years ago it would have been a world sensation, with world class competitors taking part, today the 300 club, i.e. the one who lifts 300 kg on the deadlift, includes many people around the world. And it's not just strongman sport that has moved on incredibly. Moreover, let's not forget that this is the 4th discipline and the competitors are getting tired. 4 of the fighters unfortunately recorded a zero, Frantisek new did a wonderful 5 reps and earned himself a great third place.

The great deadlifter and viking Dominik Ponocny put up a fantastic 7 reps to take second place. But the full number of points and the victory of the discipline went to Luboš Klinecký, the giant from Hlinsko, who was absolutely professional in his guarding of Dominik and performed a bombastic 9 reps.

Medley

At the end, just like in the morning session, Fingal's finger was ready for a spin. The pros had it a bit harder, not only the tire weighed 200 kg more, i.e. a massive 650 kg, but Fingal's finger had to be turned twice, at the beginning and then at the end of the discipline. Do we know who had the most strength left? Has anyone ever conquered this frantic discipline? Of course, we're at a strongman competition, not a dance class. In the end, 3 fighters fit into the time limit for the complete discipline. I should add that many of the competitors had no experience with Fingal's finger. The third Stepan Bystrinets needed 83,77 seconds to complete the discipline. The second Václav Miláček certainly fixed his mood with a time of 68.34 seconds. The winner was Pavel Zadražil, where his experience was clearly decisive, his time was 41.03 seconds.

Results

All the time both full auditoriums roared with enthusiasm, the race, as usual, prepared excellently for both spectators and competitors. It can literally be said that the imaginary high bar of all Czech races was set by Golčův Jeníkov a few years ago. The organizers paid attention to every detail. After counting the total results, the spectators learned that the third place with a total of 44 points went to the giant Luboš Klinecký, who first came to prominence in the amateurs, right here in Golčák. The second place went to Štěpán Bystřinec, a fantastic racer with fantastic form, who collected a total of 53 points.

The overall first place, the cup and the title of the strongest man from Golcak was won after a perfectly balanced fight, with a total of 58 points, as he was called, a dinosaur, matador, heartthrob and strongman in one person, a man who has been struggling with preparation and motivation for the last year, on the other hand, he proved that he definitely has something to offer and that he is a force to be reckoned with, a man who won the amateur competitions here in 2012, since then he has been on the podium several times in the pros, but this year for the first time Pavel Zadra Zadražil was on the top step. Congratulations Pája, after those titles and winning the pro league this was one of the few scalps you missed to add to your collection.