They came from around the world, converging on St. Petersburg, Russia for the 2019 APL Armlifting World Championships—the battlefield that would decide who had the strongest grip.

In 1993 IronMind launched a product called the Rolling Thunder: It made a splash in the strength world, with its inaugural world championships held in 2000, and in 2010 the sport of armlifting—with the Rolling Thunder as its cornerstone—was launched.

Fast forward to May 11-12 and the 2019 APL Armlifting World Championship, organized by Sergey Badyuk and Dmitriy Suhovarov. Building on the cornerstone of the Rolling Thunder, the contest format has expanded to include such grip strength world staples as the Captains of Crush (CoC) Silver Bullet Hold, the Apollon’s Axle and the IronMind Hub at its core, and it no longer is the exclusive province of huge men: armlifting has bodyweight classes, with women and masters included in the mix, so it’s open to all who are interested in testing their grip strength.

How talented was the field? For starters, consider that there were five men who have certified on the Captains of Crush No. 3 gripper: Clay Edgin CoC3 ‘03, Alexey Tyukalov CoC3 ’12, Aleksander Asinowski CoC3 ’13, Sergey Bogotopov CoC3 ’15, Tanner Merkle CoC3 ‘018, as well as the current world record holders for the Rolling Thunder (Alexey Tyukalov), CoC Silver Bullet (Tanner Merkle) and the IronMind Hub (Harri Tolonen).

And along with the established names, such newcomers to grip competitions as Yves Gravelle (Canada), a protege of Eric Roussin and considered a threat to the Rolling Thunder pull-up world records for reps (both one-handed and two-handed), gave the field added sparkle.


“This year, Team USA brought 17 lifters and a few family members,” Armlifting USA’s Riccardo Magni told IronMind. “Led by Team Captain Clay Edgin and Armlifting USA President Odd Haugen, Team USA got 10 gold medals:

Tanner Merkle - Rolling Thunder 108kg @ 90kg
Dani Schwalbe - Rolling Thunder 55kg @ 80kg
Julia Williams - CoC Silver Bullet #1  32.26 seconds @ 60kg
Melissa Dingey - CoC Silver Bullet #1 59.28 seconds @80kg+
Dani Schwalbe - Apollon's Axle 105kg @ 80kg
Odd Haugen - Apollon's Axle 200kg @125kg and Masters 50+
Odd Haugen - Rolling Thunder 103kg @125kg
Helen Strauss - Saxon Bar 45kg @ 60kg
Helen Strauss - IronMind Hub 17.5 kg @open weight class

“Team USA was in 2nd place to Russia in the team classification, and Team Finland was third,” said Edgin.

“In order to help grow the sport, we knew we needed to recognize those high performers in each weight category. After last year‘s APL world championships, we created a ranking system in which the top three American from each weight class would be invited to compete on team USA.,” Clay Edgin told IronMind.

“With all those nominations set at the end of the year, the invites were sent out and the response was overwhelmingly positive. The athletes who accepted the invitation and booked their trip to Russia had a life-changing experience through the international community of armlifting.”

For Americans looking for their next opportunity to compete, please visit armliftingusa.com.




Jouni Mahonen (Finland) posted the best time of anyone on the No. 3 Captains of Crush (CoC) Silver Bullet Hold: 48.05 seconds. IronMind® | ©Randall J. Strossen photo

Tanner Merkle (USA) has been lighting up the grip world, and after the 90-kg competitor made 108 kg on the Rolling Thunder, he called for this 111 kg on his third attempt—getting it started but not able to finish the lift. IronMind® | ©Randall J. Strossen photo

Danni Schwalbe (USA) went 95, 100, 105 on the Apollon’s Axle, before missing 112kg on a fourth attempt. IronMind® | ©Randall J. Strossen photo

Clay Edgin (USA) ended up in a three-way tie for the top lift on the IronMind Hub, but got bumped to bronze on body weight. IronMind® | ©Randall J. Strossen photo


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