Strength athletics in Canada refers to the various Strongman events throughout Canada and its provinces in the sport of Strength athletics in association with the World's Strongest Man. The roots of strongman in Canada go back long before the birth of WSM in 1977, particularly with [Louis Cyr] in the early 1900s, who was deemed the "Strongest Man on Earth" during his lifetime. Four Canadian athletes have finished on the podium, placing 2nd in 1982 with Tom Magee and 3rd in 2005 with Dominic Filiou, Jean-François Caron placing 3rd in 2020, and Maxime Boudreault placing 3rd in 2021. The provinces of Canada hold annual championships with the top 2-4 athletes going on to the National Championships at the end of the year to crown Canada's Strongest Man. Mitchell Hooper's win at 2023 World's Strongest Man makes him the first Canadian to finish in first place.
Tournament information | |
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Location | Canada |
Established | 1982 |
Format | Multi-event competition |
Current champion | |
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Canada's Strongest Man is an annual strongman competition held in Canada, and features exclusively Canadian athletes. The event first started in 1982, with Tom Magee winning the first 2 titles. [1] Hugo Girard would later go on to win a record 6 titles; a record that would later be beaten despite Hugo's proclamation that nobody would ever even go as far as to match it. After Hugo withdrew from competition due to injuries, fellow training partner and 5 time runner-up Jessen Paulin won in 2005 & 2006. [2] Dominic Filiou won in 2007, becoming the first man to defeat Hugo Girard on Canadian soil. [3] After the dust had settled following the end of Hugo's era, a new champion would emerge: Jean-Francois Caron. Jean-Francois, or "J-F", has dominated strongman in Canada since 2011, winning the title of Canada's Strongest Man every year and ushering in a new era of Strongman in Canada. J-F has also nurtured the success of other athletes and has worked towards developing the success of the sport in the country as a whole.
Champion | Times |
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![]() | 9 |
![]() | 6 |
![]() | 3 |
![]() | 2 |
![]() | 2 |
![]() | 2 |
Year | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place |
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2000 | ![]() | ![]() | (To be confirmed) |
2001 | ![]() | (To be confirmed) | (To be confirmed) |
2002 | ![]() | ![]() | (To be confirmed) |
2003 | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
2004 | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
2005 | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
2006 | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
2007 | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
2008 | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
2009 | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
2010 | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
2011 | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
2012 | ![]() | ![]() | (To be confirmed) |
Tournament information | |
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Location | Quebec |
Established | 1992 |
Format | Multi-event competition |
Current champion | |
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North America's Strongest Man is an annual strongman competition consisting of athletes from both United States and Canada. The event was established in 1992 [9] with Gary Mitchell of the United States winning the inaugural competition.
Despite the three hiatus periods (1994-1997, 2004-2006 and 2015-2022), the competition has been held seventeen times. Canada has produced five champions who shared ten titles among them while United States has produced seven champions with a title each for a total of seven.
The contest has been always held in Quebec.
Champion | Times & years |
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![]() | 3 (2009, 2010, 2011) |
![]() | 2 (2001, 2002) |
![]() | 2 (2007, 2008) |
![]() | 2 (2012, 2013) |
The Strongman Super Series, known from 2001 to 2004 as the IFSA World Strongman Super Series, from 2005 to 2008 as the World's Strongest Man Super Series, and reverting in 2009 to the World Strongman Super Series, is a sequence of grand prix events in the sport of strength athletics. It was introduced in 2001 in response to concerns that, unlike other individual sports such as golf or tennis, there was no recognized international "tour" in strength athletics. The Strongman Super Series ensures that there are a number of high-profile, professionally run contests during the year, with competitors' placings being used to decide the overall Super Series Champion.
Strongman is a competitive strength sport which tests athletes' physical strength and endurance through a variety of heavy lifts and events. Strongman competitions are known for their intensity, pushing athletes to their physical and mental limits. In modern strongman, athletes compete to score points based on their relative position in an event. An athlete who engages in the sport of strongman is also called a 'strongman'. They are often regarded as some of the strongest men of the world.
The International Federation of Strength Athletes was an international governing body for strongman competition. IFSA operated from 1995 to 2007 and was based in Glasgow, Scotland.
Hugo Girard is a Canadian former strongman. He is a Strongman Super Series world Champion, a four-time World Muscle Power champion and a six-time Canada's Strongest Man. With 15 international competition wins, he's the eighth most decorated strongman in history.
Dominic Filiou was a Canadian strongman of Greek ancestry. Filiou was best known for competing in the 2005, 2006, and 2007 World's Strongest Man competitions. In 2005 he finished third in the finals, becoming the first Canadian to podium at World's Strongest Man since Tom Magee in 1982. In 2006 and 2007 he was eliminated during the qualifying heats. He was the 2007 winner of Canada's Strongest Man making him the first man to defeat Hugo Girard on Canadian soil. He died of a heart attack on January 2, 2019.
Jessen Paulin is a Canadian Strongman. A resident of Gatineau, Quebec, Paulin is known for being a multiple-Quebec's Strongest Man champion and a two-time Canada's Strongest Man in 2005 and 2006 succeeding, multiple-time champion and former World Champion Hugo Girard who was in rehabilitation following a surgery on an injured foot. In 2007, he was crowned the North America's Strongest Man, an event that featured six Canadian and six American strongman athletes. Jessen won this title again in 2008.
The Beauty and The Beast Strongman Challenge, also known as the Beauty and The Beast World Strongman Challenge was a short-lived annual strongman competition that was notable for the calibre of the entrants it attracted, as well as for the reputation it attained in a short amount of time.
Louis-Phillipe Jean is a Canadian strongman competitor and entrant to the World's Strongest Man competition on multiple occasions.
Strength athletics in Norway refers to the participation of Norwegian competitors and holding national strongman competitions.
Strength athletics in the United States refers to the various strongman competitions organized throughout United States and North America with the elements of all of strength athletics taken into account. United States has held a preeminent position as a nation due to the enormous success of its competitors on the international stage, who between them have won twelve World's Strongest Man titles and numerous other international strongman competitions. United States has both amateur and a professional sanctioning bodies.
Christian Savoie is a leading Canadian strongman competitor and entrant to the World's Strongest Man competition on multiple occasions.
Le Defi Mark Ten International was one of the most prestigious strongman contest in the world in the 1980s and early 1990s. Staged in Quebec, Canada, it was begun as a tribute to Louis Cyr and was notable for the quality of the strength athletes it attracted, which included a number of winners of the World's Strongest Man competition, including Jón Páll Sigmarsson, Bill Kazmaier and Magnús Ver Magnússon.
Mike Jenkins was an American professional strongman competitor from Westminster, Maryland. During his short pro career, Jenkins competed at the highest level of the sport. In 2012, Jenkins won the Arnold Strongman Classic, regarded as one of the most prestigious competitions in strongman.
Krzysztof Edward Radzikowski is a professional strongman competitor from Głowno, Poland. He has competed in 112 International strongman competitions and has won 24 of them, making him the sixth most decorated strongman in history following Žydrūnas Savickas, Mariusz Pudzianowski, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, Brian Shaw and Aivars Šmaukstelis.
Jean-François 'JF' Caron is a French-Canadian strongman and powerlifter from Les Hauteurs, Quebec, Canada. Having competed in 73 International strongman competitions and winning 10 of them including World's Strongest Viking twice, Caron is among the 20 most decorated strongmen of all time.
Luke Skaarup is a professional engineer and also a retired professional strongman from Canada who competed actively in the sport of strongman from 2007 to 2015. During his competitive career, he held many records, most notably the Canadian record for heaviest atlas stone ever lifted in competition, the Ontario record for heaviest deadlift, and the Ontario Record heaviest dumbbell press. He competed in over sixty competitions with his top placings being the 2 x Ontario's Strongest Man Champion, 4th at North America's Strongest Man (2014), and 8th at the World Amateur Strongman Championships (2012).
The World Log Lift Championships is an annual competition featuring strength athletes from all over the world, competing exclusively in the log clean and press. Created initially as part of the Strongman Champions League, it has since been part of Giants Live and the championship has been present in both series, Giants Live running one version of the championship and the World Log Lift Federation taking over the Strongman Champions League's variant of the championship.
The 105 kg Strongman World Championships is a (mostly) annual competition featuring strength athletes from all over the world, competing for the title of the strongest man in the world with a body weight below 105 kg. Created initially by the International Federation of Strength Athletes, the series was eventually moved to become part of the Strongman Champions League, a series created by two former IFSA members Ilkka Kinnunen and Marcel Mostertas.
Maxime Boudreault is a Canadian professional strongman competitor from Kapuskasing, Ontario. He secured 3rd place in the 2021 World's Strongest Man competition in Sacramento, California, won the inaugural 'Magnús Ver Magnússon Strongman Classic' competition in 2021 in Iceland, and won the 2022 Canada's Strongest Man competition.