Dolbeau-Mistassini, Quebec—Taking it right down to the wire, Hugo Girard won the 2004 World Muscle Power Championship today.

Coming into the final event, the Farmer's Walk, Girard trailed Vasyl Virastyuk by one-half point, so he had to beat Virastyuk to take the title.

Girard and Virastyuk were paired, and they were the last to go: they both struggled to get the 362-pound implements down the 20-meter course, had dropped them, and were trying to pick them up to make the turn to come back. Time ran out, but because Girard had actually crossed the line, while one of Virastyuk's implements was about six inches shy of it, Girard beat Virastyuk and claimed the major strongman title, much to delight of all the fans in Hugo-Land.