Confirming rumors that TWI and BBC had withdrawn from the 2004 World's Strongest Woman contest, IFSA president Douglas Edmunds said today that IFSA would fill the gap with its own contest: The IFSA Strongwoman World Championships.

World's Strongest Woman might not have proven to be financially viable, Edmunds said, but he explained that IFSA had some new concepts for the competition, leading to a format that would prove to be "more modern and more interesting."

Tentatively scheduled for September 12th in Ireland, the IFSA Strongwoman World Championships will have a field of athletes who qualified in either the USA Nationals (run by Shannon Hartnett), the Scandinavian qualifier (run by Ilkka Kinnunen) or the European qualifier (run by Douglas Edmunds).

As they develop, more details will be available on the official IFSA website or here, so check back for updates.