“It was quite a stunning show . . .,” Giants Live managing director Colin Bryce said of the of the strongman contest organized with UFSA in Kiev yesterday, and since Giants Live is the official qualifying tour for the World’s Strongest Man (WSM) contest, the top three finishers were guaranteed invitations to WSM 2010.


Look at this dramatic setting for the Giant Live–Kiev World’s Strongest Man qualifier.  IronMind® | Courtesy of Colin Bryce.


Giants Live—Kiev 2010
by Colin Bryce
Managing Director, Giants Live
 

It was a quite stunning show that Olena, Vlad and the UFSA organised for the second grand prix of Giants Live 2010.  It was right under the "Friendship" Arch in the heart of Kiev city center on Sunday afternoon, May 30th.  Despite the odd flash of thunder and lightning, a truly impressive crowd turned up to see American Derek Poundstone pull out a dramatic comeback to win the competition.

In fact it was more of a strength festival than a simple strongman show in Kiev, with SCL also helping, as they organised an excellent under-105-kg contest between Team Ukraine and Team Europe.  Team Ukraine won in the end by the tightest of margins - just a few squats.  The referees across both contests were the SCL team of Marcel Mostert and Ilkka Kinnunen, who did their usual world-class job.

These were the events:

1. Yoke: 410 kg, 25 m for time (paired event)
2. Arm-over-arm (paired event)
3. Viking press: 140 kg for reps, 60-second time limit
4. Car deadlift: 360 kg for reps, 60-second time limit (paired event)
5. Conan's wheel
6. Dumbbell: 95 kg for reps, 90-second time limit (pair event)
7. Atlas stones: 120 kg, 140 kg, 170 kg, 180 kg, 200 kg  60-second time limit (circle)

Please note the deadlift got jacked up to 360 kg in a minute because the lineup of pullers was too good for anything lighter.

The results:

Yoke
Shahlaei 11.11 sec.
Poundstone 13.83
Klyushev 14.05
Arsjo 16.4
Frampton 16.68
Dymek 17.1

Arm-over-arm
Arsjo 11.47 meters
Dubrovskiy 10.88
Ilyn 10.66
Shahlaei 10.52
Romanchuk 8.68

Viking press
Shahlaei, Klyushev, Poundstone, Dymek 18 reps
Ilyn 15
Brandt 14

Deadlift
Shahlaei, Klyushev 14 reps
Poundstone 13
Kalinichenko 12
Arsjo, Frampton 9

Dumbbell press
Poundstone 9 reps (world record)
Ilyn, Kalinichenko 8
Arsjo 5
Shahlaei 4
Klyushev 3

Conan's wheel
Poundstone 45 meters
Arsjo 41.87
Ilyn 32.26
Shahlaei 28.39
Klyushev 25.38
Kalinichenko 13.49

Standings after 6 events
1. Shahlaei 56 pts.
2. Poundstone 55.5
3. Arsjo 49.5
4. Klyushev 49
5. Ilyn 46
6. Kalinichenko 33.5

Final standings after stones
1. Poundstone 63.5 pts.
2. Shahlaei 62
3. Arsjo 56.5
4. Klyushev 53
5. Ilyn 51
6. Kalinichenko 35.5
7. Dymek 33.5
8. Frampton 30.5

Laurence Shahlaei led the contest right up until the 7th and final event, the
Atlas stones.  It took every bit of fight in Derek to come back from a poorish start that saw him really struggle with a "heaviest of all time" sled pull.  Derek said after the sled pull that he had never tried harder than the 60 seconds he pulled on the 410-kg sled.  He then had to pull a world record 9 reps at the 95-kg dumbbell (60 seconds) and try and keep his back working in a very hard 360-kg side handle deadlift to help bring him back into contention. 

But to prove that he isn’t just a pair of strong legs, Shahlaei didn't just win the Yoke but he also took a share in first place in the deadlift and Viking Press too.  One of the great sights of the weekend was Derek stepping in to help teach Laurence how to do the dumbbell when he couldn’t do one in the warmup.  A classy touch from a man who was a fair few points down at that point.

So Derek, Laurence and Johannes have all qualified for WSM. 

The next Giants Live will be at Wembley Arena in London on June 19th - starring none other than the World Strongest Man himself, Big Z.  And if that wasn’t enough for you then he is going to make an attempt at the 2" bar (smooth) Apollon’s Axle world record that Derek owns.  It currently stands at 419 pounds from the Mohegan Sun IronMind® Apollon's Axle™ contest.  I wouldn’t wager against the big man taking it up a few pounds.

Derek Poundstone (above) and Laurence Shahlaei (below) battled it out at Giants Live–Kiev, with the title coming down the the final event.  Both Poundstone and Shahlaei have qualified for World's Strongest Man 2010.  IronMind® | Photo courtesy of Colin Bryce.


Derek Poundstone (above) and Laurence Shahlaei (below) battled it out at Giants Live–Kiev, with the title coming down the the final event.  Both Poundstone and Shahlaei have qualified for World's Strongest Man 2010.  IronMind® | Photo courtesy of Colin Bryce.

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