Strength athletics in Iceland
Strength athletics in Iceland refers to the participation of Icelandic competitors and holding national strongman competitions. The sport's roots have a long and ancient history going back to – 1056, with sagas about Orm Storolfsson, Finnbogi and Grettir Ásmundarson to the 18th and 19th century traditional strongmen including Snorri Björnsson, Brynjólfur Eggertsson and Gunnar Salómonsson; all the way up to the televisation of modern strongman competitions in the late 1970s.
Iceland has held a preeminent position as a nation due to the enormous success of its competitors at international strength platforms, who between them have won myriad international strongman competitions across all governing bodies including nine World's Strongest Man titles and for holding more strongman world records than any other country hence is often regarded as 'the strongest nation of the world'.
History
Icelanders testing each other through tests of strength predates the introduction of Strength athletics. There had also been a number of noted powerlifters and weightlifters including Skúli Óskarsson, Óskar Sigurpálsson, Guðmundur Sigurðsson, Birgir Borgþórsson, Guðmundur Helgason and Þorsteinn Leifsson during the twentieth century. However, in the era of Strongman, Iceland has a record that belies the size of the nation's population, having won everything there is to win in the sport.Before Iceland had its own national competition, it already had men competing on the international circuit. In 1983, the young powerlifter and bodybuilder, Jón Páll Sigmarsson entered the 1983 World's Strongest Man competition where he emerged runner-up. Sigmarsson went on to win the competition the following year and in total won the World's Strongest Man four times, and became the first man to win the title 4 times. Sigmarsson was also a six times World Muscle Power Classic champion, 2 times Europe's Strongest Man and winner of the Pure Strength title.
His contemporary, and good friend Hjalti Árnason, was also competing parallel to him and he won Le Defi Mark Ten International and podiumed in several competitions including World Muscle Power Classic and World Strongman Challenge.
Magnús Ver Magnússon followed in their footsteps and emulated Sigmarsson's four World's Strongest Man titles, becoming the second man to win the title 4 times. He also won World Strongman Challenge, Europe's Strongest Man and European Hercules competitions. Ver Magnússon and Árnason also won the 1989 Pure Strength team competition.
There have also been several highly acclaimed Icelandic competitors, competing across top tier international competitions including Andrés Guðmundsson, Torfi Ólafsson, Kristinn Óskar Haraldsson, Benedikt Magnússon and most notably Stefán Sölvi Pétursson who achieved fourth-place in the 2010 World's Strongest Man competition.
The next entire decade of Icelandic Strongman competitions was dominated by Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson who won the main National title 12 times in addition to winning several other national competitions multiple times and also winning 10 Giants Live tours including the Europe's Strongest Man 5 times, 9 Strongman Champions League titles, the Arnold Strongman Classic 3 consecutive times, the World's Strongest Viking 2 consecutive times, the World's Strongest Man and the World's Ultimate Strongman becoming the most decorated Icelandic Strongman of all-time.
National Competitions
Since 1985, Iceland has had its own national strongman competition: Iceland's Strongest Man, which remains the main national title. Then, there has also been other major titles contested in Iceland, including Strongest Man in Iceland, Iceland's Strongest Viking, Iceland's Strongest Man and Icelandic Power Trial Championships; in addition to several smaller competitions such as Westfjord's Viking, Grundarfjord Viking, Highland Viking, East Coast Giant/ Eastfjord Strongman Championships and Northern Giant. Iceland also holds national Highland Games competitions such as Icelandic Highland Games, Powerlifting competitions such as Thor's Powerlifting Challenge, Magnus Classic Raw Powerlifting, and deadlift + loglift competitions such as Thor's Power Challenge.Iceland's Strongest Man
Iceland's Strongest Man is Iceland's main national title. In 1985, the inaugural edition of the competition was held and it was not for the faint-hearted. Three of the six competitors ended up in hospital. Jón Páll won the competition while Hjalti Árnason emerged second and Magnús Ver third. Thus, in the very first contest the podium finishers would between them go on to win the World's Strongest Man eight times, the World Muscle Power Classic seven times, the World Strongman Challenge, Le Defi Mark Ten International and numerous powerlifting titles including the super-heavyweight IPF World Powerlifting Championships. The contest's profile was immediately internationally renowned and it eventually became an open competition in some years, although if a non-Icelander wins, the title of Iceland's Strongest Man defers to the highest placed Icelander. This has only happened on 2 occasions when the legendary Bill Kazmaier of the United States and Regin Vagadal of the Faroe Islands won in 1988 and 1998 respectively.Iceland's Strongest Man remains the most prestigious and the highest ranking strongman title of the country. Each year, the champion is bestowed with an iconic trophy handcrafted from stone, which depicts a man lifting a heavy stone.
Results
Being held for 41 consecutive years since its inception in 1985, Iceland's Strongest Man is the oldest 'continuously held' strongman competition in the world. It has been won by 11 Icelanders and 7 of them progressed on to become multiple winners. With 12 titles, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson holds the record for the most number of wins while Magnús Ver Magnússon and Jón Páll Sigmarsson have 8 and 5 wins respectively. The competition is annually organized and hosted by Hjalti Árnason.| Year | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1985 |  Strongest Man in IcelandThe second major title of Iceland, this contest is organized by Magnús Ver Magnússon and is also held in different locations throughout Iceland. In the past, it has been held in Grindavík, Sudureyri, Grafarvogur and Hafnarfjördur. Unlike in Iceland's Strongest Man, if a non-Icelander wins this competition, he will be conferred with the title 'Strongest Man in Iceland'.
|
