Magnus ver Magnusson Strongman Classic 2024 | Report with results

Who doesn't know the great Magnus ver Magnusson, four-time winner of the Worlds Strongest Man title in the 1990s. Younger fans may know him as the smiling referee from the Giant's Live series or just World's Strongest Man. This Icelandic legend, who, among other things, owns the famous Jakabol gym (translated as the Hatchery of the Giants), is now in his fourth year of competing. And as beautiful but very tough as his home country, Iceland, is, so is the race itself.

I had the opportunity to talk to several competitors from the first edition and also checked the situation at the last edition. It's an extreme race, with races taking place at the end of November, this year the race took place on 22-24 November 2024. The venue for the event is the famous sites that are dotted literally all over the island, which is therefore not very big. On the other hand, due to the race being outdoors and the actually wintry conditions, sharp winds and general Icelandic weather, it is one of the toughest races ever.

In the words of Dennis Kohlrus, who had to withdraw in the first edition due to illness, it was impossible to change clothes, to hide from the wind, carrying loads was either on wet or ice, lifting stones that were very slippery was almost dangerous. Pierre Motal added that it was cold everywhere, they were always on the move because of the change of location, that is why the race was divided into 3 days, always one discipline in the morning and one in the afternoon. In between, however, the competitors got completely cold and had to warm up again.

This year's and last year's conditions were very close to these experiences, so despite the overall strain, the competitors did not have to do everything they would have had the strength to do in "normal" conditions. The difference this year is that there were nine disciplines, so three per day. A total of 15 riders entered the race determined to fight not only the disciplines, but also the wind, ice, water and other elements. Among the fighters there were also well-known names from the top strongman ranks, but the biggest ones were missing. All competitors then completed the following disciplines:

• Rock press
• Hercules tribute
• Husafell stone
• Carry medley
• Sandbag toss
• Natural stones
• Vertical lift
• Silver dollar deadlift
• Log medley

How the whole competition went, we will find out in the following report.

Rock press

Lifting rocks above your head. Nothing more, nothing less, just bitter cold. Of course, the weight was lifted above the head. The more the better. The second place was shared by four competitors, Evans Aryee from Ghana, who also competes under Belgian colours and who we know from the Vrd 2023, Kristjan Nielsson from home, Andrew Burton from the USA and Tristain Hoath from Canada, all of whom managed to lift 134 kg above their heads. The only one who humbled them all was the Polish legend of Strongman sport, the eternally second and great Mateusz Kieliszkowski, who entered the race again after a long time.

Hercules tribute

Keeping the two poles tilted apart on the chain was particularly difficult here. Outdoors again, the metal structure, all this gave my head a good workout. At the same time, it's very popular all over the world to introduce beautiful new gear where wood and shiny new paintwork play the role. The local Hercules tribute was a very used piece indeed. Of course, it didn't take away from the difficulty. The three strongest grips and durability were shown by Mateusz Kieliszkowksi in third place with a time, 43.88 seconds. Second place went to Rongo Keene from Australia, who managed to hold the implement for 46.47 seconds. First place in the event went to Andrew Burton, he held 59.01.

Husafell stone

When you say Husafell stone, everyone immediately thinks of the typical "coffin-shaped" stone, whether a metal pickle or a natural imitation. However, the Husafell stone is a sacred stone of the Vikings that must not leave Iceland. So, the only way to try to load the 186 kg stone is to go directly to the area of Husafell, after which the stone is named, and try it right there. The other option is to meet him at one of the local strongman competitions, where the organisers can borrow him. There is no other option. That's also why I would definitely include the Husafell site as a trip type when visiting Iceland.

The competitors walked as the ancient Vikings did around the cairn for the longest distance. The Vikings only had to walk around once to prove they were men. The races were walked on snow, so no fun, because you don't want to fall with such a heavy stone in your hands... Kristján Nielsson obviously had the stone well practiced, he managed to cover a great 59.7 meters, third place. Audrius Jakubaitis of Lithuania managed 65.8 metres, good enough for second place. A straight 68 metres was the winning performance by the current leader Mateusz Kieliszkowski. And that was the end of the first day of competition.

Carry medley

The second day started with a warm-up run, who would expect a cozy and heated hall, was wrong, again it was run outside, this time on a wooden pier, fortunately it was dry, the second part on the sand on the beach. Limit 75 seconds over 20 metres with a huge wooden super yoke loaded to 380kg and another 17 metres with Farmer's walk stone trunks, where he had 140kg each. Rough warm-up. Third place Mateusz Kieliszkowski, completed both components in 34.04 seconds. Second place was narrowly snatched by Andrew Burton with a time of 33.36 seconds. In the end, Wesley Derwinsky of Canada took the gold in the event even more narrowly with a time of 33.09.

Sandbag toss

Sandbag throwing, a fairly popular event in recent years, is usually thrown over a bar, in Iceland it was thrown over a railing on the terrace. The height was 4.4 metres and a total of 6 bags were thrown, ranging in weight from 18 to 28 kg. I might highlight one thing, there was no wind below the terrace. Bronze place Tristain Hoath, all six bags in 14.62 seconds, that was a real blast. Second place Wesley Derwinsky, again all six in 13.75, that was a hurricane, but Shane Flowers, the British strongman, he put all six bags up in 11.81, that's literally a hurricane.

Natural stones

A bit more complicated task for the competitors to describe. The task was to throw natural large stones over a bar, the first 2 lighter stones had a bar of 150cm, but the lighter stones had to be got on the shoulder first and held with one hand to signal to the judge that they could throw it over. The other three stones did not need to be put on the shoulder and their bar was 125 cm. The whole discipline took place on the beach, so there was fine beach sand sticking to the stones, which was quite uncomfortable and also quite slippery.

Only three competitors managed to climb all five stones, so they are the ones who got the placings for the discipline. Audrius Jokubaitis came third, he had a time of 49.59 seconds. Second place 10 seconds faster with a time of 39,54 was Tyler Sigurdson from Canada. Mateusz Kielszkowski was another 9 seconds faster with a time of 30.39 seconds. This was also the end of the second day of competition.

Vertical lift

In Czech I would call this discipline pulling on the rope, you need a crane with a high arm and a metal container attached to the rope, the competitors had to pull the container up, similarly to the pull on the pulley, unfortunately, neither the weight nor the height is clear, it is very similar to the pulling of, for example, a truck, with the difference that if you let go of the rope, the weight goes down, so the hand had to be fast and judicious. The marks on the rope that passed through the pulley and the time it took to pass through them counted in the result. Third place Wesley Derwinsky, five marks in 31.99 seconds. Second place, Tristain Hoath, five marks in 20.68 seconds. Best on the course was again Andrew Burton, who managed six marks in 30.2 seconds.

Silver dollar deadlift

A very interesting variation of the deadlift where a metal cube is placed on each side of the barbell instead of the discs. In the original design filled with metal coins, hence the name. Nowadays, of course, other materials are used to make it lighter, or even discs, as in this case... it's a different suspension of the weight. This discipline took place at the Viking Village, one of Iceland's other tourist attractions. I will mention here that the most lifted in the competition was 380 kg, and the following six fighters managed it: Didzis Zarins from Latvia, Evans Aryee, Shane Flowers, Tiano Faapoi from New Zealand, Wesley Derwinsky and Tristain Hoath.

Log medley

Or how often is the Log ladder used? Simply, it was necessary to lift a total of 4 giant logs weighing 125, 140, 150 and 165 kg in the shortest possible time. The weather was sunny but still windy, the end of the whole competition was with smiles of all the protagonists. The royal strongman discipline could begin. Third place Didzis Zarins, all logs in 39,47, Wesled Derwinsky managed all in 39,23 and thanks to this minimal difference he took second place. The gold in the discipline went to Mateusz Kieliszkowski, who did everything in 29.56 seconds.

Hooray to the jacket, warm time and warm up. The race is over. It was a great fight, but it was carried in good spirits both among the organizers and the competitors. Despite the physical and mental demands of the race, no one was injured and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Third place went to Andrew Burton, who scored 96.5 points, with second place going to a well prepared Tristain Hoath who scored 107 points. Taking home the win and gold from the event was Polish strongman legend Mateusz Kieliszkowski, scoring a total of 11.5 points. I'll say right now that this is a really luxurious comeback. The last time Mateusz won a world-class elite event was in 2019 at the World's Ultimate Stronman in Dubai. Let's hope Mateusz's health holds out and we see him in good races and good placings in the 2025 season.