Strength athletics in Finland

Strength athletics in Finland refers to the participation of Finnish competitors and holding national strongman competitions.

History

Finland had enormous success on the international stage in the 1990s and early 2000s, having won 3 World's Strongest Man titles, and numerous major European and international competitions. In particular, Jouko Ahola was the 1997 World's Strongest Man & 1999 World's Strongest Man champion, Janne Virtanen won the 2000 World's Strongest Man, and Riku Kiri was a 3 time consecutive Europe's Strongest Man champion from 1995-1997. In recent years Finland has struggled in the major international scene, having not made the finals of WSM since 2002, and not having any major international victories.

National competitions

Finland's Strongest Man

Finland's Strongest Man

Tournament information
Location	Finland
Established	1987
Format	Multi-event competition
Current champion
Mika Törrö (2025)

Finland's Strongest Man is an annual Strongman competition held in Finland and featuring exclusively Finnish athletes, to determine who the strongest Finn of the year is. It was first held in 1987 ^[1] and has produced 19 champions throughout its 34 consecutive years. It is one of the oldest strongman competitions in the world.

Mika Törrö holds the record for the most number of wins with six titles while Janne Virtanen and Jani Illikainen share four titles each. Ilkka Nummisto and Riku Kiri share three titles each as well. ^[1] Jón Páll Sigmarsson, Bill Kazmaier and Hjalti Arnason were guests in the competition but their placings were not included in the final results. ^[1]

Champions breakdown

Year	Champion	Runner-Up	3rd Place
1987	Arto Lyytikäinen	Markku Suonenvirta	Jari Leino & Kari Pötrönen
1988	Riku Kiri	(To be confirmed)	(To be confirmed)
1989	Markku Suonenvirta	Ilkka Nummisto	(To be confirmed)
1990	Ilkka Nummisto	Markku Suonenvirta	(To be confirmed)
1991	Ilkka Nummisto	Markku Suonenvirta	(To be confirmed)
1992	Ilkka Nummisto	Jukka Laine	Marko Varalahti
1993	Riku Kiri	Marko Varalahti	Jarmo Ruotsalainen
1994	Riku Kiri	Harri Simonen	Jorma Ojanaho
1995	Marko Varalahti	Sami Heinonen	Jukka Laine
1996	Jorma Ojanaho	Jouko Ahola	Marko Varalahti
1997	Jouko Ahola	Sami Heinonen	Jorma Ojanaho
1998	Janne Virtanen	Matti Uppa	Jukka Laine
1999	Janne Virtanen	Sami Heinonen	Juha-Matti Räsänen
2000	Janne Virtanen	Sami Heinonen	Juha-Matti Räsänen
2001	Janne Virtanen	Juha-Matti Räsänen	Pasi Paavisto
2002	Juha-Matti Räsänen	Sami Heinonen	Harri Simonen
2003	Juha-Matti Räsänen	Esa Qvintus	Tomi Lotta
2004	Tomi Lotta	Juha-Matti Räsänen	Jani Illikainen
2005	Jani Illikainen	Matti Uppa	Juha-Pakka Aitala
2006	Jani Illikainen	Juha-Matti Räsänen	Esa Qvintus
2007	Jani Illikainen	Jani Kolehmainen	Janne Hartikainen
2008	Jani Illikainen	(To be confirmed)	(To be confirmed)
2009	Juha Matti Jarvi	(To be confirmed)	(To be confirmed)
2010	Pedro Karlsson	(To be confirmed)	(To be confirmed)
2011 [2]	Jarno Jokinen	Pedro Karlsson	(To be confirmed)
2014 [3]	Arto Niemi-Nikkola	Jarno Kirselä	Juha Jokinen
2015	Jarno Kirsela	Andreas Ståhlberg	Juha Jokinen
2016	Niko Vesterinen	Andreas Ståhlberg	Jiri Grönman
2017	Niko Vesterinen	Jesse Matilainen	Martti Harjapää
2018	Mika Törrö	Niko Vesterinen	Jesse Matilainen
2019	Mika Törrö	Jiri Grönman	Jesse Matilainen
2020	Mika Törrö	(To be confirmed)	(To be confirmed)
2021	Mika Törrö	Henry Ollila	Severi Allonen
2022	Mika Törrö	Jarkko Mehtälä	Teemu Pohto
2023	Jarkko Mehtälä	Jesse Pynnönen	Mika Törrö
2024	Severi Allonen	Jesse Pynnönen	Mika Törrö
2025	Mika Törrö	Jesse Pynnönen	Niko Nurmi

Repeat champions

Champion	Times & years
Mika Törrö	6 (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2025)
Janne Virtanen	4 (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001)
Janni Illikainen	4 (2005, 2006, 2007, 2009)
Riku Kiri	3 (1988, 1993, 1994)
Ilkka Nummisto	3 (1990, 1991, 1992)
Juha-Matti Räsänen	2 (2002, 2003)
Niko Vesterinen	2 (2016, 2017)

Regional Competitions

Nordic Strongman Championships

Nordic Strongman Championships consists of athletes from Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. ^[4]

Year	Champion	Runner-Up	3rd Place
2005	Svend Karlsen	Magnus Samuelsson	Juha-Matti Räsänen
2012 [4]	Johannes Årsjö	Lars Rorbakken	Mikkel Leicht
2013	Johannes Årsjö	Ole Martin Hansen	Juha-Matti Järvi

• In 2005, the competition was held under IFSA in Kristiansand, and in 2012 and 2013 in Harstad, Norway under Giants Live.
• From 2014 onwards, the competition was promoted to global level, re-titled as the World's Strongest Viking and was held consecutively for 8 years under Strongman Champions League.

International Competitions

World's Strongest Viking

Finland hosts the summer edition of the World's Strongest Viking competition, with the participation of top athletes of the world.

Year	Champion	Runner-Up	3rd Place
2023 [5]	Kane Francis	Ervin Toots	Sigfús Fossdal
2025 [6]	Adam Roszkowski	Kevin Hazeleger	Jesper Hansson

Giants Live

Finland was also the venue for a couple of Giants Live grand prix competitions, named Giants Live Finland.

Year	Champion	Runner-Up	3rd Place
2011	Martin Wildauer	Vidas Blekaitis	Rauno Heinla
2012	Laurence Shahlaei	Johannes Årsjö	Lauri Nämi

References

1. "David Horne's World of Grip". Davidhorne-gripmaster.com. 2010-06-21. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
2. Finland’s Strongest Man, Woman: Jarno Jokinen, Kati Luoto Win
3. "Finland's Strongest Man: The Next Generation". Randall J. Strossen, IronMind Enterprises, Inc. 9 June 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
4. "Nordic Strongman Championships: Viking Loses His Title!". Archived from the original on 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2012-06-21.
5. "2023 SCL World's Strongest Viking". strongmanarchives.com. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
6. "2025 SCL World's Strongest Viking". strongmanarchives.com. Retrieved 29 June 2025.