Svend Karlsen turned in strong performances on the first day of the World's Strongest Man (WSM) finals, to take the early lead.

The first event today was a medley, in which the competitors had to carry a super yoke, and then flip a tire.  Samuelsson won, followed by Karlsen and then Virtanan.  Pfister just missed crossing the line on the yoke, and so had to go back and pick it up again, losing a lot of time.

The second event was a repetition squat, which Karlsen won with 10 reps. Girard and Raynes were tied, at 9 reps.  Samuelsson, Pfister, Zijlstra and Rasanen bombed in this event.