2006 World's Strongest Man

The 2006 Met-Rx World's Strongest Man was the 29th edition of World's Strongest Man and was won by Phil Pfister, the first American to win the competition since Bill Kazmaier in 1982. The contest took place between the 14th and 23 September 2006, in Sanya, China.

The 25 competitors in the World's Strongest Man qualified through the World's Strongest Man Super Series. The Super Series consist of exclusive Grand Prix events produced all over the world. Official Super Series site

Format

The 25 competitors were split into five separate heats, each consisting of six events. After each event each competitor was given points, from 5 for first to 1 for last. Half points occurred if more than one competitor had the same result, and no points were scored if a competitor did not take part in an event. The points were tallied after the six events and the two competitors with the most points from each heat progressed to the final. The final consisted of seven events and the champion was the competitor with the most points after all of the events.

The Head referee was Colin Bryce, assisted by Svend Karlsen (the 2001 World's Strongest Man). Jouko Ahola, World's Strongest Man winner from 1997 and 1999, was the equipment manager.

Events

There were a total of 11 different events used in the competition:

• Farmer's Walk
• Keg Toss
• Car Dead Lift
• Car Walk
• Overhead Stone Lift
• Barrel Loading Race
• Cannonball Carry & Sledge Drag
• Fingal Fingers
• Power Stairs
• Bus Pull
• Atlas Stones

Qualifying heats

Heat 1

#	Name	Nationality	Pts
1	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Polen	25
2	Don Pope	Vereinigte Staaten	18.5
3	Arild Haugen	Norwegen	16
3	Reza Gharaei	Iran	16
5	Jessen Paulin	Kanada	11.5

Heat 2

#	Name	Nationality	Pts
1	Terry Hollands	Vereinigtes Königreich	22.5
2	Raivis Vidzis	Lettland	21.5
3	Jesse Marunde	USA	20.5
4	Dave Ostlund	USA	19.5
5	Gu Yan Li	China	5

Heat 3

#	Name	Nationality	Pts
1	Phil Pfister	USA	21.5
2	Mark Felix	UK	18
3	Janne Virtanen	Finnland	17.5
4	Elbrus Nigmatullin	Russland	17
5	Darren Sadler	Vereinigtes Königreich	16

Heat 4

#	Name	Nationality	Pts
1	Tarmo Mitt	Estland	21
2	Jarek Dymek	Polen	20.5
3	Boris Haraldsson	Island	19
4	Dominic Filiou	Kanada	16
5	Kevin Nee	USA	12.5

Heat 5

#	Name	Nationality	Pts
1	Sebastian Wenta	Polen	26.5
2	Sławomir Toczek	Polen	23
3	Josh Thigpen	USA	17
4	Odd Haugen	Norwegen	10.5
5	Magnus Samuelsson	Schweden	8 (Inj.)

Final

Mariusz Pudzianowski, the reigning champion, started well in the final. He was joint first with Mark Felix in the Dead Lift, with 16 lifts and won the power stairs in 26.33 seconds, almost 8 seconds faster than second placed Tarmo Mitt. The power stairs proved a tough task for others though, Raivis Vidzis coped the worst but managed to carry on. In the 3rd event, the overhead stone lift, Phil Pfister dominated and lifted all 4 stones, while no other competitor could lift more than 2. The top 5 after the first day of the final was:

#	Name	Nationality	Pts
1	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Polen	28.5
2	Mark Felix	UK	21.5
3	Phil Pfister	USA	21
4	Tarmo Mitt	Estland	17
5	Don Pope	USA	17

Pfister dramatically closed the gap to Pudzianowski in the 2 events on day 2 of the final as he won both of them. Pudzianowski struggled to 6th in the Fingal Fingers, while Pfister set a world record time of 5 fingers in 31.92 second and in the bus pull Pfister managed to pull his bus just 12 centimetres further than Pudzianowski to leave himself 1.5 points behind the leader. The top 5 after the second day of the final was:

#	Name	Nationality	Pts
1	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Polen	42.5
2	Phil Pfister	USA	41
3	Don Pope	USA	32
4	Mark Felix	UK	30.5
5	Tarmo Mitt	Estland	27

Despite having won 3 events in a row, many people expected Pfister to struggle in the Car Walk and he needed something special once Pudzianowski had set a time of 27.4 seconds and amazingly Pfister beat it by just over half a second, meaning the 2006 WSM would go right down to the wire in the Atlas Stones, with just half a point separating them. The Atlas Stones proved to be extremely tight but Pfister just edged Pudzianowski and let out a great celebratory roar as a devastated Pudzianowski let his 5th stone roll off the platform. Don Pope recovered well to finish 3rd having come last in the first event. The final results:

#	Name	Nationality	Pts
1	Phil Pfister	USA	61
2	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Polen	57.5
3	Don Pope	USA	45
4	Mark Felix	UK	38.5
5	Tarmo Mitt	Estland	38
6	Sebastian Wenta	Polen	36.5
7	Terry Hollands	Vereinigtes Königreich	30
8	Jarek Dymek	Polen	29
9	Raivis Vidzis	Lettland	26
10	Slawek Toczek	Polen	20.5

External links

• Official site
• Official World's Strongest Man Super Series site