Europe’s Strongest Man 2024 Review: Full Results and Events Analysis

On the 13th of April 2024 in Leeds, UK, the annual strength competition Europe’s Strongest Man 2024 was held at the First Direct Arena. It’s a qualifying event for the World’s Strongest Man, which will take place in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

12 powerful giants were performing at this competition, with 5 devastating events proving athletes’ incredible endeavors.

Ukraine was represented by two powerhouses – Oleksiy Novikov, the strongest man in 2020, and Pavlo Kordiyaka, the winner of Europe’s Strongest Man in 2023. Oleksiy was competing with a biceps injury that would impact his performance in the future.

Nicolas Cambi from Italy and Ondrej Fojtu from the Czech Republic were the first-timers at the competition showed great results.

Athletes Performance in a Shortcut

The first exercise was the Nicol Stone. This is quite a challenging and tough movement that rivets athletes’ legs because they should carry stones of different weights (114 kg and 138 kg) and shapes as far as they can.

Unfortunately, Novikov showed one of the worst results managing to carry those stones for 13 meters. So, he ranked tenth in this event. By the way, his performance in this exercise was always poor.

That can mean that it’s pretty uncomfortable for him, or the problem is in his grip. However, as we know Ukrainian is one of the leaders in the Farmers Carry event.

Pavlo Kordiyaka showed better results finishing fifth with the result of 17.15 meters.

While Luke Stoltman and Aivars Smaukstelis showed equal results by carrying the stones for 20 meters, thus they finished third and fourth respectively.

The British athlete Shane Flowers became second with a result of 22.62 meters. The winner in this event became 22-year-old Czech Ondrej Fojtu who impressed everyone with the incredible result of 24.15 meters.

The second event is called the Car Walk: athletes should keep the modified car body of a colossal 450 kg steady as long as they can. The first four athletes finished almost the same time – for 16 seconds,  but within 0.6 seconds of each other. A great fact is that Ukrainians Novikov and Kordiyaka were third and fourth in this exercise which enabled them to improve their results in the scoreboard. The leader was Scottish Luke Stoltman who finished the exercise by 16.13 seconds.

At the third exercise, the deadlift ladder, strongmen need to lift five barbells with heavier weight, starting with 300 kg and maxing up to 380 kg. Rauno Heinla from Estonia impressed with his result – 5 in 41.28 seconds. Thus, he managed to surpass his younger opponents. The second place moved to Oleksiy Novikov who did 5 in 47.91 seconds. The Ukrainian athlete succeeded in reanimating himself and increased his rating significantly. Speaking about Kordiyaka, deadlift exercise is a real pitfall, as he ranked 11th in this event.

The fourth event, the Vikings Press, where athletes should press the huge logs, presented us with the following outcomes: Ondrej Fojtu performed 16 reps, while Novikov fell behind him for 2 reps. Stoltman, Smaukstelis, and Cambi showed equal results of 13 reps. Pavlo Kordiyaka was out of strength performing 12 reps overall which decreased his chances of getting a decent place in the rating.

The last event, Atlas Stones, determined the Top 3 winners. Trying to secure the top position, Novikov lifted 4 stones on the platform and couldn’t lift anymore because of his bicep strain. So, he finished 8th in the exercise. The British strongman Shane Flowers showed the best time – 5 stones in 18.53 seconds. Aivars Šmaukstelis and Luke Stoltman finished with the same result – 5 in 18.58 seconds, ranking second and third in the event.

To conclude, the final ranking was the following:

1. Luke Stoltman — 44 points
2. Aivars Šmaukstelis — 43 points
3. Oleksii Novikov — 40 points
4. Ondřej Fojtů — 38 points
5. Shane Flowers — 36.5 points
6. Nicolas Cambi — 35 points
7. Pavlo Kordiayaka — 33 points
8. Pa O’Dwyer — 33 points
9. Rauno Heinla — 33 points
10. Gavin Bilton — 21.5 points
11. Frederik Johansson — 17 points
12. Konstantine Janashia — 10 points

As we approach the 2024 World’s Strongest Man that will happen on May 1st – 5th, these strongmen have several weeks to recover and come back in peak form again.