Strength athletics in Canada refers to the various strongman (strength athlete) 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 | |
---|---|
Location | Canada |
Established | 1982 |
Format | Multi-event competition |
Current champion | |
Simon Pratte |
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 |
---|---|
Jean-Francois Caron | 9 |
Hugo Girard | 6 |
Tom Magee | 3 |
Gregg Ernst | 2 |
Jessen Paulin | 2 |
Christian Savoie | 2 |
Year | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place |
---|---|---|---|
2000 | Tim Griffith | Shane Murphy | |
2001 | Shane Murphy | ||
2002 | Shane Murphy | Jonathan Hickey | |
2003 | Shane Murphy | Brad Carty | Jonathan Hickey |
2004 | Brad Carty | Shane Murphy | Grant Connors |
2005 | Grant Connors | Darrell Crouse | Kevin O'Keefe |
2006 | Grant Connors | Jonathan Schooten | Chris Bulman |
2007 | Grant Connors | Danny Frame | Jonathan Schooten |
2008 | Grant Connors | Danny Frame | Chris Harper |
2009 | Grant Connors | Danny Frame | Jonathan Schooten |
2010 | Grant Connors | Danny Frame | Kalen Brennan |
2011 | Grant Connors | Jonathan Schooten | Jay Smith |
2012 | Kalen Brennan | Alex Wallace |
2012 | |
Tournament information | |
---|---|
Location | various locations, North America |
Established | 1992 |
Format | Multi-event competition |
Current champion | |
Jean-Francois Caron |
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. [13]
Year | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|
1992 | Gary Mitchell | |||
1993 | Steve Pulcinella | |||
1994 | Event not held | |||
1995 | Event not held | |||
1996 | Event not held | |||
1997 | Event not held | |||
1998 | David Brown | |||
1999 | Steve Dmytrow | |||
2001 | Hugo Girard | Geoff Dolan | Phil Pfister | Gatineau, Quebec |
2002 | Hugo Girard | |||
2003 | Jon Andersen | Chad Coy | Walt Gogola | |
2004 | Event not held | |||
2005 | Event not held | |||
2006 | Event not held | |||
2007 | Jessen Paulin | Brian Shaw | Christian Savoie | Gatineau, Quebec [14] |
2008 | Jessen Paulin | Christian Savoie | Pete Konradt | Gatineau, Quebec [15] |
2009 | Christian Savoie | Jean-Francois Caron | Josh Thigpen | Gatineau, Quebec [16] |
2010 [17] | Christian Savoie | Jean-Francois Caron | Scott Cummine | Gatineau, Quebec |
2011 [18] | Christian Savoie | Jean-Francois Caron | Karl Gillingham | Gatineau, Quebec |
2012 | Jean-Francois Caron | Dave Ostlund | Jackie Oulette | Gatineau, Quebec |
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 someone who exhibits strength through strength athletics. Strength athletics, also known as strongman competitions, are composed of a variety of events in which competitors have to move the highest weights possible, the winner being the one having the highest tally across all events. In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or similar circus performers who performed feats of strength.
World's Strongest Woman is an annual strongwoman contest, and considered the pinnacle for female competitors and recognized as the world championships. The format was similar to the World's Strongest Man (WSM) contest, and was held during the same time and same location as WSM from 2001 to 2003.
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.
Strength athletics in the United Kingdom and Ireland has a long history going back many centuries before the televisation of strongman competitions in the 1970s. The ancient heritage of the sport in the United Kingdom and Ireland lies in a number of traditional events, the most famous of which is arguably the traditional Highland Games, which itself is a source of many events now practised in modern strongman competitions, such as World's Strongest Man and International Federation of Strength Athletes (IFSA) sponsored events. However, the traditional events still are popularly contested events today. In the more modern phenomenon that is the World's Strongest Man and its associated competitions, the United Kingdom and Ireland remain well represented with Glenn Ross, Terry Hollands, Eddie Hall and John Ryan Cappalahan, with regular appearances at world finals, and with three men having won the title of World's Strongest Man, as well as Shane Davis Cappalahan appearing in eight final events.
The Arnold Strongman Classic is an annual competition featuring strength athletes from all over the world, determining who is the Strongest Man in the World. Created by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Lorimer and Terry Todd, it is an offshoot of the Arnold Sports Festival which takes place annually in Columbus, Ohio, USA.
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.
Ervin Katona is a Serbian strongman competitor and regular entrant to the World's Strongest Man competition. He has competed in 99 International strongman competitions and have won 17 of them, making him the seventh most decorated strongman in history.
Strength athletics in Finland refers to the participation of Finnish competitors and events in the field of strength athletics in association with the World's Strongest Man.
Strength athletics in the United States refers to the various strongman events throughout United States and North America in the sport of strength athletics in association with the World's Strongest Man ("WSM") contest. America has both an amateur and a professional sanctioning body.
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.
Jean-François 'JF' Caron is a Canadian strongman and powerlifter from Les Hauteurs, Quebec, Canada. Having competed in 73 International strongman competitions and winning 10 of them, 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).
Ginaud Dupuis is a French-Canadian strongman, notable for twice appearance at the World's Strongest Man.
Vehicle pull is a signature Strongman event featured in World’s Strongest Man and other similar competitions which requires competitors to pull extremely heavy trucks, buses, trains or planes while being attached to a harness that is connected to the vehicle. The heavier the vehicle is, a rope is provided for them to pull on. The person who completes the course in the fastest time or covers the most distance is declared the winner.