The IFBB Arnold Sports Festival, also known as the Arnold Schwarzenegger Sports Festival, is an annual multi-sport event consisting of professional bodybuilding, strongman, fitness, figure and bikini weekend expo. It was established in 1989 and is named after Arnold Schwarzenegger. The main event is held annually around late February or early March in Columbus, Ohio, United States, by the International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness (IFBB). It is considered the second-most-prestigious event in professional men's bodybuilding, physique, figure and bikini after Joe Weider's Olympia; it was formerly the second-most-prestigious event in professional female bodybuilding.
Žydrūnas Savickas is a Lithuanian powerlifter and professional strongman. Due to his multiple championship wins in all major international strongman competitions, as well as his longevity in the sport, he is widely considered by many to be the greatest strength athlete of all time.
Vasyl Virastyuk, is a Ukrainian former strongman competitor. He is a brother of Roman Virastyuk. Virastyuk was the winner of World's Strongest Man 2004. In a March 2021 parliamentary by-election, Virastyuk will be a candidate for Servant of the People.
Derek Poundstone is an American former professional strongman athlete from Woodbridge, Connecticut who placed runner-up at the 2008 World's Strongest Man. Derek Poundstone is also a police Sergeant for the Naugatuck, Connecticut Police Department and is the former owner and landlord of an apartment complex and gym.
Travis Ortmayer is an American professional Strongman athlete from Cypress, Texas. He is nicknamed the Texas Stoneman due to his many world records in the Atlas Stone event.
Nick Best is an American professional strongman competitor and world champion powerlifter.
The Arnold Strongman Classic is an annual competition featuring strength athletes from all over the world. Created by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jim Lorimer, it is an offshoot of the Arnold Sports Festival which takes place annually in Columbus, Ohio, USA.
Brian Shaw is an American professional strongman competitor and winner of the 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2016 World's Strongest Man competitions. In 2011, he became the first man to win the Arnold Strongman Classic and the World’s Strongest Man contests in the same calendar year, a feat he replicated in 2015.
Mark Philippi is an American world champion powerlifter and strongman competitor. Philippi is a multiple entrant to the World's Strongest Man competition, and former holder of the America's Strongest Man title.
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.
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson is an Icelandic professional strongman and actor. He is the first person to have won the Arnold Strongman Classic, Europe's Strongest Man and World's Strongest Man in the same calendar year. He played Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane in the HBO series Game of Thrones for five seasons. He also is a former professional basketball player.
Mike Jenkins was an American professional strongman competitor from Westminster, Maryland. Jenkins worked as a high school athletics director at Milton Hershey School in Hershey Pa, when not competing as a strongman. He was a college and professional football player before switching over to strongman competition in 2007. He won the Maryland's Strongest Man contest in 2007 which qualified him for the North American amateur national strongman championships later that year and he placed sixth in that contest. He placed second in the North American nationals in 2009.
Robert Oberst is an American professional strongman who was awarded his "Pro Card" at the 2012 Dallas Europa Amateur Strongman Competition. He is a yearly competitor of the World's Strongest Man competition and a finalist in the 2013 World's Strongest Man and 2018 World's Strongest Man competitions.
Matjaz Belsak is a Slovenian professional strongman competitor and powerlifter.
Mateusz Kieliszkowski is a Polish strongman competitor. He is particularly known for his impressive pressing ability within strongman, as well as his prowess in the Atlas Stones and various moving events.
Wesley Vissers is a Dutch IFBB professional bodybuilder.
Martins Licis is a Latvian-American professional strongman, notable for winning the 2019 World's Strongest Man competition and placing second in the Arnold Strongman Classic.
The 2020 Arnold Strongman Classic was a strongman contest that took place in Columbus, Ohio, from March 6–7, 2020 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. The Arnold Strongman Classic is the finale of the Arnold Strongman Tour and is seen as one of the biggest and most prestigious strongmen events on the circuit.
Mikhail Shivlyakov is a former Russian Marine currently competing as a professional strongman.
Oleksii Novikov is a strongman competitor from Ukraine. He won the 2020 World's Strongest Man competition, becoming the second Ukrainian World's Strongest Man winner after Vasyl Virastyuk who won in 2004.
