Germany is declared its strongest man. On Aug. 13-14, 2022, 10 of the country’s top strongmen converged on Gera, Germany, to battle across eight events to determine the 2022 Germany’s Strongest Man (GSM) champion. 2021 GSM champion Dennis Kohlruss defended his title, winning five of the eight events.
Atypical of other elite strongman contests, the scoring at the 2022 GSM contest was reversed. The winner of each event was awarded the fewest points, meaning that the athlete with the lower score ranked higher on the overall leaderboard. A perfect score would have been eight points — Kolhruss stood atop the podium with 23 points. Below are the full results:
2022 Germany’s Strongest Man Results
- Dennis Kohlruss — 23 points
- Tim Hruby — 30 points
- Patrick Eibel — 33 points
- Johannes Eichinger — 37 points
- Matthias Winnerl — 37 points
- Benjamin Blass — 47 points
- Julian Groth — 49 points
- Volker Bauer — 55 points
- Jonathan Wulfert — 57 points
- Kevin Koch — 58 points
The eight events in Gera were the Max Log Lift, Max Car Deadlift, Arm-Over-Arm Pull, Tire Flip, Tractor Pull, Super Yoke, Dumbbell Press, and Atlas Stones. Check out the results for each event below.
View this post on Instagram
[Related: Strongman Oleksii Novikov Pulls 1,210 Pounds For New Hummer Tire Deadlift World Record]
Max Log Lift
Kohlruss was the strongman to beat entering the contest, and he displayed why he is the strongest man in Germany in event one. He scored the win with his 180-kilogram press, five kilograms heavier than Koch’s runner-up 175-kilogram lift.
- Dennis Kohlruss — 180 kilograms
- Kevin Koch — 175 kilograms
- Matthias Winnerl — 165 kilograms
- Benjamin Blass — 160 kilograms
- Tim Hruby — 150 kilograms (T-fifth)
- Johannes Eichinger — 150 kilograms (T-fifth)
- Jonathan Wulfert — 150 kilograms (T-fifth)
- Patrick Eibel — 145 kilograms
- Julian Groth — 140 kilograms
- Volker Bauer — 130 kilograms
Max Car Deadlift
The Car Deadlift was performed on a frame with side handles, meaning that the athletes deadlifted with a neutral grip rather than an overhand grip on a bar in front of their shins. This is closer to a trap bar deadlift than a conventional barbell deadlift. Kohlruss kept his foot on the gas, scoring a second consecutive event win by tying for first place points with Hruby, Wulfert, Eibel, and Bauer.
- Dennis Kohlruss — 380 kilograms (T-first)
- Tim Hruby — 380 kilograms (T-first)
- Patrick Eibel — 380 kilograms (T-first)
- Volker Bauer — 380 kilograms (T-first)
- Jonathan Wulfert — 380 kilograms (T-first)
- Matthias Winnerl — 360 kilograms (T-sixth)
- Benjamin Blass — 360 kilograms (T-sixth)
- Johannes Eichinger — 340 kilograms (T-eighth)
- Julian Groth — 340 kilograms (T-eighth)
- Kevin Koch — 320 kilograms
Arm-Over-Arm Pull
Kohlruss furthered his overall lead with yet another event win, besting runner-up Eichinger by nine one-hundredths of a second in the Arm-Over-Arm pull. Six of the athletes completed the event with sub-30-second times.
- Dennis Kohlruss — 26.02 seconds
- Johannes Eichinger — 26.11 seconds
- Matthias Winnerl — 27.09 seconds
- Volker Bauer — 27.85 seconds
- Patrick Eibel — 28.32 seconds
- Tim Hruby — 29.88 seconds
- Julian Groth — 32.28 seconds
- Kevin Koch — 34.48 seconds
- Jonathan Wulfert — 36.46 seconds
- Benjamin Blass — 68.44 seconds
Tire Flip
This event challenged each strongman to flip a 420-kilogram tire for distance within the time cap. It was the first event that Kohlruss didn’t finish with first-place points.
- Tim Hruby — 54.27 seconds
- Julian Groth — 58.51 seconds
- Matthias Winnerl — 58.76 seconds
- Johannes Eichinger — 65.74 seconds
- Dennis Kohlruss — Five flips (T-fifth)
- Patrick Eibel — Five flips (T-fifth)
- Benjamin Blass — Four flips
- Volker Bauer — Three flips (T-eighth)
- Kevin Koch — Three flips (T-eighth)
- Jonathan Wulfert — One flip
Tractor Pull
Kohlruss corrected course after the Tire Flip with another event win in the tractor pull. He was one of only two athletes to complete the course within the time cap and the only athlete to do so in sub-40 seconds.
- Dennis Kohlruss — 37.97 seconds
- Patrick Eibel — 40.81 seconds
- Johannes Eichinger — 19.18 meters
- Julian Groth — 18.53 meters
- Matthias Winnerl — 15.42 meters
- Tim Hruby — 14.55 meters
- Jonathan Wulfert — 13.56 meters
- Benjamin Blass — 12.35 meters
- Kevin Koch — 11.28 meters
- Volker Bauer — 7.22 meters
Super Yoke
The 410-kilogram Super Yoke was a strength, speed, and midline test. Koch cleared the course in the fastest 15.05 seconds for his first event win of the contest.
- Kevin Koch — 15.05 seconds
- Benjamin Blass — 16.95 seconds
- Dennis Kohlruss — 17.85 seconds
- Julian Groth — 21.80 seconds
- Matthias Winnerl — 24.72 seconds
- Tim Hruby — 28.95 seconds
- Patrick Eibel — 29.08 seconds
- Johannes Eichinger — 39.59 seconds
- Jonathan Wulfert — 42.84 seconds
- Volker Bauer — 10.2 meters
Dumbbell Press
The 90-kilogram dumbbell press event challenged athletes to lockout the max number of reps they could within the time cap. Kohlruss racked up another event win, locking his spot for the top of the podium. However, he shared top honors in the event with Hruby.
- Dennis Kohlruss — Six reps (T-first)
- Tim Hruby — Six reps (T-first)
- Benjamin Blass — Five reps
- Patrick Eibel — Two reps (T-fourth)
- Johannes Eichinger — Two reps (T-fourth)
- Matthias Winnerl — One rep (T-sixth)
- Jonathan Wulfert — One rep (T-sixth)
- Julian Groth — Zero reps
- Volker Bauer — Zero reps
- Kevin Koch — Zero reps
Atlas Stones
Kohlruss did not score any stones in the final event as he no longer needed points to secure the competition victory. Eibel was the only athlete to load all five stones, ranging from 150 to 200 kilograms.
- Patrick Eibel — Five stones, 50.64 seconds
- Volker Bauer — Three stones, 27.20 seconds
- Johannes Eichinger — Three stones, 38.43 seconds
- Tim Hruby — Two stones, 11.22 seconds
- Julian Groth — Two stones, 15.66 seconds
- Matthias Winnerl — Two stones, 17.65 seconds
- Benjamin Blass — Two stones, 19.33 seconds
- Dennis Kohlruss — Zero stones
- Jonathan Wulfert — Zero stones
- Kevin Koch — Zero stones
Featured image: @dennis_kohlruss on Instagram
