Derek Poundstone continued with his strong start at the 2009 World’s Strongest Man (WSM) contest - having won all four of his events so far, IronMind® was told unofficially today, and this would make him the only competitor with a perfect record at this point in the contest.

This morning, each WSM qualifying group either squatted or deadlifted.  In the squat, Laurence Shahlaei won in his group and Derek Poundstone won in his group.  The group winners in the deadlift were Mark Felix, Darren Sadler and Terry Hollands.

Three groups also did the carwalk, where the group winners were Phil Pfister, Derek Poundstone and Laurence Shahlei.

Brian Shaw is continuing to make a huge impression and was called “an absolute surprise” by a sharp-eyed observer who has put Shaw on his short list for the podium.  Zydrunas Savickas was described as being “massively strong,” and along with Shaw and Poundstone, the Big Z is seen as rounding out the most likely top three in the 2009 World’s Strongest Man contest.

The qualifying round for the 2009 World’s Strongest Man contest continues tomorrow, with fingal’s fingers and the dumbbell press for reps.  Incidentally, it was also reported that the deadlift event in the finals has been changed from a hold to reps.