With the buzz building for the 2012 edition of the World’s Strongest Man (WSM) contest, IronMind invited Colin Bryce to set the stage—Bryce, one of the most knowledgeable and agile players in the strongman world, is part of the WSM organizing committee as well as being the head referee in year’s event.


Time to gear up for the 2012 World’s Strongest Man contest, set for Los Angeles, with the qualifying rounds beginning on September 24.  IronMind® | Artwork courtesy of WSM/IMG.


“As ever, the heats have been set up to make up a broad range of tests:  Explosive strength, grip strength, shoulder strength, back and leg strength, stamina etc.,” said Bryce.

“Once again in 2012 we will be giving away the crown of ‘King of Stones’ after the heats.  Brian Shaw is the title holder and it will take a big leap in performance from one of the other athletes to take that title off of him.

“When it came to the final we wanted the same mix of strengths being tested.  However, we also wanted to throw in an element of doubt.  So we dropped the ubiquitous Atlas Stones and brought in natural stones.  It takes away that highly polished training element to the atlas stone event and brings in an element of adaptability, intelligence and overcoming the unknown on the day which is what strongman is based on. 

“Plus the finish on the power stairs is something that can be visually very exciting if its a close race. It is that bit more arduous than stones and the races can often last well over a minute as exhaustion kicks in.

We also wanted to do another maximum lift.  So we went for the max log.  It was a big success in South Africa and we know the likes of Savickas and Jenkins are hitting world records in training so it just made sense to give the final some real brute strength. But before I stop at just two names Radzikowski, Lalas, Shaw, Poundstone and more can all hit a 440 lb. plus log on their day.

“As for Truck Pull, Super Yoke and Deadlift in the final—they are all pretty standard fare and help keep the events as evenly spread amongst general strongman skills as possible.

“The hope is to find the World's Strongest Man and I am fairly certain after 8 days in LA we will do that.

“What a fabulous mix of champions we have competing: Z [Zydrunas Savickas], the two-time WSM winner, Shaw the returning WSM winner who is fighting back from injury, Jenkins who is the the Arnolds and FitX Champion and is the rising star of the sport.

"Hafthor Bjornsson—the largest strongman in history—is coming of age and Vytautas Lalas—the young Lithuanian—is ready to step out of Savickas's shadow.  Plus, Poundstone (multiple US champion), Radzikowski (who has had the best season of his life), Terry Hollands (a two-time WSM podium athlete) and the return of Misha!  

“So many athletes you could name here, which is what makes this the best WSM ever in my opinion,” Bryce said.

For full details on the 2012 World’s Strongest Man contest, please visit the official WSM website.


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