Strongman Champions League (SCL) – Slovakia & Russia

Saturday 7th September saw the continuance of the Strongman Champions League (“SCL”) in Slovakia. For those not in the know, the SCL is ran throughout the year with – near enough – the same bunch of competitors (most of which are European). Rather than a more usual strongman competition where the competitor just has to win on the day or, in the case of World’s Strongest Man, win over several days, the athletes compete in a league clocking up points throughout the season. A win gets you 25 points, second place earns you 18 points, third 15 and so on and so forth.

The results of the competition in Slovakia were as follows:

1. Lauri Nami (Estonia) – 58.5 points
2. Krzystof Radzikowski (Poland) –  58 points
3. Martin Wildauer (Austria) – 54 points
4. Vidas Blekaitis (Lithuania) – 52.5 points
5. Ervin Katona (Serbia) – 42 points
6. Dainis Zageris (Latvia) – 26.5 points
7. Gregor Stegnar (Slovenia) – 24.5 points
8. Akos Nagy (Hungary) – 23.5 points
9. Peter Putzer (Slovakia) – 23.5 points
10. LuKas Svoboda (Czech) – 17 points

Which makes the overall top 20 rankings look like this:

1. Krzysztof Radzikowski – Poland 141 points
2. Ervin Katona – Serbia 129 points
3. Dainis Zageris – Latvia 81 points
4. Hafthor Julius Bjornson – Iceland 71 points
5. Lauri Nami – Estonia 60 points
6. Vytautas Lalas – Lithuania 58 points
7. Meelis Peil – Estonia 51 points
8. Martin Wildauer – Austria 48 points
9. Tomi Lotta – Finland 35 points
10. Antti Mourujärvi – Finland 33 points
11. Bjorn Andre Solvang – Norway 30 points
12. Laurence Shahlaei – Iran 27 points
13. Zydrunas Savickas – Lithuania 25 points
14. Misha Koklyaev – Russia 20 points
15. Terry Hollands – UK  20 points
16. Alex Moonen – Holland  20 points
17. Akos Nagy – Hungary 20 points
18. Vidas Blekaitas – Lithuania  17 points
19. Peter Puszer – Slovakia  16 points
20. Konstantin Ilin – Ukraine 14 points

With only five more chances to pick up points it looks like the competition is between Serbia and Poland with Radzikowski and Katona battling it out for the top spot. The next stage happens tomorrow, the 14th September, in Vladivostok, Russia. The line looks like this:

1. Zydrunas Savickas (Lithuania)
2. Krysztof Radzikowski (Poland)
3. Ervin Katona (Serbia)
4. Lauri Nami (Estonia)
5. Didzis Zarins (Latvia)
6. Bjorn Andre Solvang (Norway)
7. Halfthor Julius Bjornsson (Iceland)
8. Mike Burke (USA)
9. Antti Mourujarvi (Finland)
10. G.Kalichenko (Russia)
11. Alexander Lysenko (Russia)

And the strongmen will be battling across six events:

• Weight for Height
• Yoke Race
• Medley
• Deadlift
• Forward Hold
• Dumbbell Press

Crowd favourite Misha was due to compete but owing to his tricep injury at World’s Strongest Man earlier this year he’ll be MCing instead – which should be good fun!