“Norway’s Strongest Man is coming up soon,” Svend “Viking” Karlsen told IronMind® today, “with the qualifying round on May 14 and the finals on May 15,” and the stakes are high.

“This will be a tight race between Espen Aune and Richard Skog,” Karlsen said, but there is also a chance for a big upset.

“Ole Martin Hansen could win on a good day,” said Karlsen.  And there’s also Lars Rorbakken, a former European arm wrestling champion who “still trains arm wrestling, but keeps getting better and better in strongman.  He’s a strong guy:  He deadlifted 400 kg . . . It was one of the ugliest lifts known to mankind, but still he got it up,” Karlsen said.

“The level of strongman in Norway keeps going up.  Last year, when the log lift reached 160 kg, we still had 8 guys competing.  Back in my day, the winning result was about that,” said Karlsen.

Besides the top three from Norway’s Strongest Man qualifying for the Viking Power Challenge strongman contest, there’s even more on the line.

“We’re always looking for the next Viking!” Svend Karlsen said.

Want to talk about this article?  Join the IronMind® Forum!