Strength athletics in Norway

(Redirected from Norway's Strongest Man)

Strength athletics in Norway refers to the participation of Norwegian competitors and holding national strongman competitions.

History

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The sport's roots have a long history going back many centuries before modern strongman competitions in the 1970s. However, Norway did not come onto the international scene in modern times until the mid-1990s. Norway has had mixed success on the international stage, with Svend Karlsen winning the 2001 World's Strongest Man title, Norway's only WSM title. In recent years, Norway has had several top international competitors in WSM, including Arild Haugen, Richard Skog, Odd Haugen and Espen Aune.

National Competitions

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Norway's Strongest Man

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Norway's Strongest Man
Tournament information
LocationNorway
Month playedSeptember
Established1998
FormatMulti-event competition
Current champion
  Håkon Heitmann Kollerød (2024)

Norway's Strongest Man (Norwegian: Norges Sterkeste Mann) is an annual strongman competition and the main national title of Norway. The event was established in 1998 and has produced fourteen champions throughout the years.[1] Kurt Kvikkstad won in 1998 & 1999, with Roy Holte winning the next 3 years. Then emerged Svend Karlsen, Norway's greatest strength athlete who took the 2003, 2005, and 2006 titles. In 2004 Mattis Bjorheim won the title. Arild Haugen won in 2007 & 2008 and Richard Skog won in 2009 & 2010.[1] Espen Aune won in 2011[2] and then emerged Ole Martin Hansen who won the title four times from 2012 to 2015.[3] Jørgen Skaug Aukland won in 2016 followed by Bjørn André Solvang in 2017. Then emerged Ole Martin Kristiansen who won the title three times from 2018 to 2020. Jonas Bathen won in 2021, Henrik Hildeskor in 2022 & 2023 and Håkon Heitmann Kollerød in 2024.

Champions breakdown

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Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd place
1998   Kurt Kvikkstad   Thomas Johansen   Roy Holte
1999   Kurt Kvikkstad   Marius Bjerke   Roy Holte
2000   Roy Holte   Odd Haugen   Olaf Dahl
2001   Roy Holte   Kurk Kvikkstad   Frank Nagy
2002   Roy Holte   Olaf Dahl   Frank Nagy
2003   Svend Karlsen   Odd Haugen   Reider Kvåle
2004   Reider Kvåle[4]   Espen Aune[5]   Olaf Dahl[5]
2005   Svend Karlsen   Reider Kvåle   Olaf Dahl
2006   Svend Karlsen   Arild Haugen   Reider Kvåle
2007   Arild Haugen   Espen Aune   Odd Haugen
2008   Arild Haugen   Richard Skog   Odd Haugen
2009   Richard Skog   Arild Haugen   Lars Rørbakken
2010   Richard Skog   Espen Aune   Bjørn André Solvang
2011   Espen Aune   Lars Rørbakken   Bjørn André Solvang
2012   Ole Martin Hansen   Lars Rørbakken   Espen Aune
2013   Ole Martin Hansen   Bjørn Andre Solvang   Øyvind Rein
2014   Ole Martin Hansen   Espen Aune   Bjørn Andre Solvang
2015   Ole Martin Hansen   Bjørn Andre Solvang   Espen Aune
2016   Jørgen Skaug Aukland   Ole Martin Hansen   Ole Martin Kristiansen
2017   Bjørn André Solvang   Ole Martin Kristiansen   Jon Olav Granli
2018   Ole Martin Kristiansen   Nils Kjetil Sande   Jonas Bathen
2019   Ole Martin Kristiansen   Bjørn André Solvang   Jørn Erik Bolstad
2020   Ole Martin Kristiansen   Henrik Hildeskor   Stefan Sekej
2021   Jonas Bathen   Stefan Sekej   Øyvind Gustavsen
2022   Henrik Hildeskor   Morten Linge   Dag Rune Stangeland
2023[6]   Henrik Hildeskor   Tommy Kåsin   Morten Linge
2024[7]   Håkon Heitmann Kollerød   Henrik Hildeskor   Andre Vrålid

Repeat champions

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Champion Times & years
  Ole Martin Hansen 4 (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015)
  Roy Holte 3 (2000, 2001, 2002)
  Svend Karlsen 3 (2003, 2005, 2006)
  Ole Martin Kristiansen 3 (2018, 2019, 2020)
  Arild Haugen 2 (2002, 2003)
  Richard Skog 2 (2009, 2010)
  Henrik Hildeskor 2 (2022, 2023)

Regional Competitions

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Nordic Strongman Championships

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Nordic Strongman Championships consists of athletes from Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.[8]

Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place
2005   Svend Karlsen   Magnus Samuelsson   Juha-Matti Räsänen
2012[8]   Johannes Årsjö   Lars Rorbakken   Mikkel Leicht
2013   Johannes Årsjö   Ole Martin Hansen   Juha-Matti Järvi

International Competitions

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World's Strongest Viking

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Norway hosted the World's Strongest Viking competition every January in freezing weather conditions.

Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place
2014 [9]   Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson   David Nyström   Terry Hollands
2015 [10]   Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson   Krzysztof Radzikowski   Jean-François Caron
2016 [11]   Jean-François Caron   Matjaz Belsak   Krzysztof Radzikowski
2017 [12]   Jean-François Caron   Krzysztof Radzikowski   Luke Herrick
2018 [13]   Krzysztof Radzikowski   Dennis Kohlruss   Luke Herrick
2019 [14]   Krzysztof Radzikowski   Ole Martin Kristiansen   Mika Törrö
2020 [15]   Sean O'Hagan   Aivars Šmaukstelis   Mika Törrö
2021 [16]   Dainis Zageris   Kelvin de Ruiter   Henrik Hildeskor

Giants Live

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Norway was also the venue for one of Giants Live grand prix competitions with the participation of top athletes of the world. The competition was named Viking Power Challenge.

Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place
2009   Travis Ortmayer   Richard Skog   Mikhail Koklyaev

References

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  1. ^ a b "PREVIOUS STRONGMAN CONTESTS TOP 3". Davidhorne-gripmaster.com. Retrieved 2010-06-14.
  2. ^ Norway’s Strongest Man: Strongman and More
  3. ^ "Norway's Strongest Man". Strongman Archives.
  4. ^ "iform.no". Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  5. ^ a b "treningsforum.no". Retrieved 2010-12-06.
  6. ^ "Norway's Strongest Man 2023". Strengthresults.com. Retrieved 2024-11-09.
  7. ^ "Norway's Strongest Man 2024". Strengthresults.com. Retrieved 2024-11-09.
  8. ^ a b "Nordic Strongman Championships: Viking Loses His Title!". Archived from the original on 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2012-06-21.
  9. ^ "2014 Giants Live Norway". strongmanarchives.com. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
  10. ^ "2015 SCL Norway". strongmanarchives.com. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  11. ^ "2016 SCL Norway". strongmanarchives.com. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  12. ^ "2017 SCL Norway". strongmanarchives.com. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  13. ^ "2018 SCL Norway". strongmanarchives.com. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  14. ^ "2019 SCL Norway". strongmanarchives.com. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  15. ^ "2020 SCL Norway". strongmanarchives.com. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  16. ^ "2021 SCL Norway". strongmanarchives.com. Retrieved 24 July 2021.