We are around a month away from the World’s Strongest Man contest, and there is a lot of speculation about that event for obvious reasons. In the meantime, the Arnold Pro Strongman World Series is rolling on and the next stop is going to be in Sandown, South Africa.
The 2019 Arnold Africa Strongman event is this coming weekend and the winner of this event will earn an automatic qualifying spot in the sport’s other big contest; the 2020 Arnold Strongman Classic. Here’s what in store for the fans in attendance and the athletes competing at this event.
The Events
Max Deadlift
Farmer’s Walk with 180 kg (397 pounds) for 20 meters
Yoke x 2 – 450 kg (990 pounds) for 10 meters, 550 kg (1,213 pounds) for 10 meters)
Truck Pull with Harness
Atlas Stone for Rep – 220 kg (485 pounds)
Log Press for Reps – 180 kg (397 pounds)
The Favorites
The full lineup for this event will be below but here are the athletes that can be considered as the top contenders.
Mateusz Kieliszkowski – This man has been near the top of the leaderboard a few times already this year but has yet to see the winner’s spot on the podium. He was second at the Arnold South America as well as at Europe’s Strongest Man before that. He started the year by finishing 3rd at the 2019 ASC. The Polish powerhouse has won this event back in 2017 and looks to be the early favorite to win it again in 2019.
Oleksii Novikov – The Ukraine native was most recently victorious at the Arnold South America and will be locking horns with Kieliszkowski again here. He showed there that he can deadlift for reps but this event will have a max weight component. If he can win that and secure an early lead, it will be hard to overtake him.
Rauno Heinla – Heinla joined the previous two athletes on this list on the podium in South America by placing 3rd. He was also 3rd at the Arnold Australia. If either of the other favorites slip up, Heinla will be there to take advantage. Don’t sleep on him.
Mikhail Shivlyakov – The Russian Special Forces soldier was in 4th at the ASC back in March and he maintained that spot in Australia as well. He actually slipped to 6th at the South America event. He will be looking to rebound and performing well here can give him great momentum going into the WSM.
The Field
Mateusz Kieliszkowski
Oleksii Novikov
Rauno Heinla
Mikhail Shivlyakov
Jerry Pritchett
Matjaz Belsak
Jimmy Paquet
Jitse Kramer
Kevin Faires
Anthony Fuhrman
Evan Singleton
Mohammed Ezatpour
Luke Reynolds
Patrick O-Dwyer
Featured image courtesy of Soulby Jackson