WSM on now

[Fuel Crusher]

WSM final on BBC1 Now. UK peeps get watching

[Guest baldy]

I'm from the US and not Britain, but I have watched some of the WSM action over the holidays.  Caught the finals of WSM 2001, and the preliminary heats of WSM 1998.  Also caught the American preliminary to WSM 1997 and was disappointed.  No offense intended to any athletes anywhere, but the caliber of MOST of the guys there was not what I would have expected (taking into account the world level).  

However, I did get so see some of the early COC's in action (Phil Martin and Ken Brown), and their extreme limit strength did not seem to help them in endurance events like the "pool plunge" (hang from a thick bar for max time) or the Hercules Hold.  Ken Brown is a tough dude, though.  He ran almost head-first (his head seemed to bounce off the tailgate) into a truck while barrel loading and quickly got back up to finish the event.

Younguy, if you are reading this I wish you the best pursuing strongman.  At WSM 2001 they televised the monetary rewards and it was $30,000 US to the first place winner.  Maybe you could break our 19 year losing streak...

Did anyone here see Phil Pfister's performance in the Hercules Hold at WSM 2001?  He proclaimed (during the hold) that he was going to return the title to America and that he would "come back" and "keep winning", all while dusting the competition at that event.

Sorry to all for the long post

[Fuel Crusher]

True Phil certainly walked his particular heat but the finals proved that he either had an easy heat or burnt himself out, due to his poor performance. The Herc hold that you mention was stunning, he waited until he'd won the event and then continued to hold while making his 'speech'. I can't help but feel that's where he went wrong though, so many of the successful WSM use a bit of common sense and only use the energy needed to get the points, sometimes happily settling for second place to conserve energy, Magnus VerMagnussen (spelling?) used to use this tactic superbly. Phils Herc hold and then his performance in the Atlas stones was far more than was required for him to qualify for the finals, once he gets his head around the tactics of these events he may become a serious title contender.

[Guest baldy]

Agreed about Phil burning himself out needlessly, and Magnus ver was a good example of how to conserve for the long haul.  Anyone with his WSM record (4 first places in 6 years) would have to know something about energy conservation.  Phil does seem to improve every time he competes, though, and could be a force to be reckoned with if he keeps it up.

On the topic of improvement, I am really impressed with how far Magnus Samuelsson has come in strongman.  Looking at where he was a few years ago and now is a big difference.  I think we'll see him with another first place in the near future.  

Even though it is nice pulling for the home team (in my case Phil, until Ken Brown and the Gillinghams get there), I always find myself rooting for Samuelsson.  Maybe that is because of his achievements in the grip world as well as his strongman ones.  I do believe that Samuelsson's superior grip has led (partially) to his dominance in events like the tire flip and Atlas Stones.  In WSM 2001 finals, did you happen to hear Janne Virtanen say he didn't think that Svend Karlsen had a very good grip, therefore wouldn't be a challenge in the (arm-over-arm) vertical lift?

If you are in UK, I guess that you are a Stumpy Raines (sp?) fan?  He's no Gary Taylor, is he...