2010 Amateur Strongman World Championships

Hey, big guys - think you might be the next Brian Shaw, Derek Poundstone, Travis Ortmayer, Dave Ostlund, Kevin Nee, Van Hatfield or Nick Best?


Brian Shaw was the hot name in up-and-coming professional strongmen last season and he got his start as an amateur.  Now, with the first Amateur Strongman World Championships, the American Strongman Corporation is providing a way for the top amateur to prove he’s ready to mix it up with the top professionals.  IronMind® | Randall J. Strossen photo.


All of those top professional strongman competitors got their start as amateurs, and in a few weeks the world’s top amateur strongmen will be going head-to-head at the Arnold, with the winner of that contest getting a chance to ratchet up a notch, with an invitation to next year’s Arnold professional strongman contest.

While the official press release might be somewhat tongue in cheek as it says, “In a tradition of groundbreaking strongman accomplishments the American Strongman Corporation (ASC) will once again go where no strongman contest has gone before,” ASC has been busy adding notches to its belt and this is a big one.

Hyperbole aside, ASC is holding the first Amateur Strongman World Championships, featuring, “representatives from 20 different countries,” giving it the broadest international representation of any strongman contest to date, ASC president Dione Wessels said, and that's a substantial development in the world of strongman.

“I am excited about the event because I know other countries that I am working with are working now to establish a pro-to-amateur system!,” Wessels told IronMind®.  “That is good for the sport because that means the sport only gets larger and more unified.  The contest now gives [the] amateurs that fans of strongman do not hear about a larger platform to compete on and be recognized for their efforts as well.  I would hope that in the future, the amateur contests and qualifying system will grow across the globe and we will see future Svend Karlsons, Koklyaevs, Savikases, Pudzianowskis, and many more across the globe,” said Wessels.

For more information on the American Strongman Corporation, please go to the ASC website.