World's Grand Prix U105 - Gustav Fristensky Memorial 2023 | Detailed results and report

On Saturday, 15th July 2023 at 2 pm in the brewery Litovel another of the World Grand Prix competitions for middleweight strongmen, i.e. up to 105 kg, took place. The organizer of the whole competition was a strongman of world name in this category, Jiří Tkadlčík originally from Přerov. Jiří and his team prepared a really interesting competition, which was in a way quite complicated in terms of filling, but it certainly did not detract from the interest or difficulty, but more about that in a moment.

On Saturday, when the weather forecast announced the hottest day of the year, which came true and indeed the thermometer in the shade stopped at 38.5°C and in the sun it was really attacking 45°C, it was a really busy day for the spectators and especially for the competitors. The service with plenty of fluids and the opportunity to hide in the shade had to be perfectly managed, and was also...

The competitors of world famous names of the U105 - middleweight category competed in a total of five challenging events:

• Press medley
• Walking medley
• Stone throw
• Deadlift medley
• Crazy medley

Most of the disciplines have the word medley in their name, i.e. it is a compound of several disciplines, so you could say that almost every discipline was in a way a separate race, especially the first and the last one, which tested the physics of the competitors, but in no case was it something easy or just easier... In all cases, the weights went to the extreme in a way, which was also the goal of the organizers.

Press medley

The press medley, which took place in two rounds, i.e. the competitor had to go through the whole discipline twice around. It meant reaching the bottom of your strength, and that's just the beginning. The strongman's goal was to move and punch a 130 kg dumbbell, followed by a 130 kg loglift, then an 80 kg one-arm overhead press and a 150 kg push press. Who would think that's it, it's not, the whole thing was still repeated. All this in the time limit of 90 seconds Third place went to Benjamin Machala from Slovakia, who managed 7 out of 8 parts of the whole medley. The only two athletes in the starting field who finished the whole discipline were another Slovak Patrik Zelezka in a great time of 76,4 seconds and Jiri Tkadlcik who did everything in 73,47 seconds. Jirka took the gold from the discipline.

Walking medley

If the fighters were not exhausted after the first discipline, the second certainly did not spare them their strength, another running medley where the competitors carried suitcases - Farmer's Walk weighing 140 kg in each hand over a 15 m route. At the end of the 15 metre route, they shouldered a 400 kg Super Yoke and walked the entire route back to the start. Vojtech Kučera finished third in the event in a time of 36.19 seconds. Second place went to Ben Donin from France in 35.19 seconds. Jirka Tkadlcik was the fastest local runner, who was the only one who managed to run 1 meter of the course in less than a second, his final time was 27.42 seconds.

Stone throw

Stone throwing, a discipline inspired by this year's Arnold Strongman Classic, however, it is a very interesting discipline, which the spectators in Litovel had a chance to try. Each of the fighters had a total of 3 attempts, the longest one always counted in the results. The best competitors surpassed the 4 meters mark, which shows that they still have the strength, even after the exhausting previous disciplines. Czech Radek Srb won the bronze in the 50 kg stone throw, he managed to throw 4.1 metres. The silver went to Jiří Tkadlčík, who threw 4.1 metres. The winner of the throwing was Chris Gjerlevsen from Denmark, who managed to throw 4.4 metres.

Deadlift medley

Once upon a time a strongman said that proper competitions without deadlift are not proper. And as the fighters who are competing for the maximum weight lifted in the middle class, the home team of Jirka Tkadlcik and the current record holder Matthew McKeegan from Ireland, have gathered in Litovel, this particular discipline is awesome from the spectator's point of view. The medley contains a total of 4 types of deadlifts and even though it is not pulled to the max, it was still something to watch. The competitors had to lift the axle, a fat axle loaded to 300 kg, then the Texas bar weighing 325 kg, the Elephant bar, a very long axle loaded to 35 kg and the last car deadlift with an SUV weighing approximately 350 kg. Despite his past injuries and withdrawal from the discipline after the second part, the Texas bar, Jiri earned third place in the discipline. Two riders then took the entire medal round, Frenchman Ben Donin in a slower time of 41.9 seconds and Irishman Matthew McKeegan in a faster time of 39.35, plus a full load of points.

Crazy medley

From the name alone, this really is a crazy medley. Plus it's the last event, so everyone has hit their own bottom and everyone has had enough. I wouldn't be surprised if the athletes are expressly looking forward to it being over. The strongmen were tasked with doing a Zercher squat with a 220kg barbell, followed by 130kg trunks for 15m, then an 80kg overhead one arm squat, running with a 350kg super yoke for 15m and finishing with a 130kg axel reposition and lunge. Ugh, that last event is partially similar to the first, but it's even crazier at the end. Four parts in a time of 59.54 seconds earned Jiri Tkadlcik third place in the event. It was Ben Machala who broke the discipline completely, i.e. five parts in 90 seconds and won the second place on the discipline. Crazy medley was won by Matthew McKeegan in 80,65 seconds.

The race is over but the heat is not over, the results are counting and the competitors are trying to use their last strength for the closing ceremony. Saturday's weather contributed to making the race unusually tough, on the other hand after listing the events and weights, he would have been unusually tough even with a nice spring breeze and an outside temperature of around 22°C. Several hundred plus spectators were able to cheer throughout the race and it was the spectators who created a great backdrop and atmosphere for the whole event full of applause, cheering, shouting and cheering. It was those spectators who also spurred Austrian Emanuel Pescari to an exhibition performance. Pescari is a hot candidate in the middleweight division to break the world record for throwing the heaviest Atlas stone over the bar. Among other things, he tried to do it at the competition in Vrdy on July 1, 2023. Unfortunately, his attempt with the 230 kg stone failed, but he set at least the European record of 215 kg.

The whole competition was also a tribute to the Kolín native Gustav Frištenský, a legendary strongman and wrestler of the first half of the twentieth century. Gustav's nephew GFrank Frištenský and great-niece Zdena Frištenská personally watched the race.

The results are counted and the announcement can be made. The third place with a total of 34 points went to Benjamin Machala from Sovetsk, who fought very steadily throughout the race and gave stable results. Second place went to Matthew McKeegan from Ireland, who managed to collect 36 points and confirmed his stellar form. The first place and the champion of the World's Grand Prix U105 - Gustav Fristensky Memorial 2023 was the home fighter Jiri Tkadlcik with his great results and almost unequivocal performance. Congratulations.