Arild Haugen won a closely-fought battle at Norway's Strongest Man contest yesterday - going in to the last event, he led Odd Haugen by one point and Espen Aune was one point behind Odd.

"The competition was great and the equipment was excellent," Odd Haugen said after a contest that could easily have ended up with the Haugens going one-two. Espen Aune finshed second, Odd Haugen was third and Richard Skog was fourth.

World's Strongest Man winner Svend Karlsen, who promoted the contest along with his wife, Lene Karlsen, said, "It was was a very close race between four guys. Arild was expected to have an easy time, but after three events, he was in fourth place. Arild showed himself by standing up and winning."

"We had 48 people working for us on this contest," Svend told IronMind®, "but this was very stressful and I am more tired than I ever was as a competitor."

The top three competitors from this contest qualified for the Viking Power Challenge in July, Karlsen said, and the top four competitors from that contest will directly qualify for the World's Strongest Man contest, Odd Haugen told IronMind®.