Just in from Latvia, the debut of the Strongman Champions League in Riga, Latvia today was a huge success, Marcel Mostert told IronMind®.

Here are the top five places and points:

1. Zydrunas Savickas 75 points
2. Travis Ortmayer 72 points
3. Agris Kazelniks 66-1/2 points
4. Misha Koklyaev 64-1/2 points
5. Andrus Murumets 59 points

Things got off to a roaring start, with Zydrunas Savickas and Misha Koklyaev both breaking the world record on the Viking Press, the first event, as they knocked off fifteen reps with 140 kg. Zydrunas Savickas, proving once again that when he says he likes things heavy, he means it, broke a second world record, as he took the 454-kg (1,000-pound) yoke 25 meters in 28.72 seconds.

Marcel Mostert also told IronMind® that the eagerly anticipated performance of Farzad Mousakhani was short-lived: Mousakhani did 13 reps on the Viking Press, to finish in third place behind Savickas and Koklyaev, but then he injured his knee after one meter in the next event (a heavy wheelbarrow). "In terms of pressing," Mostert told IronMind®, "he is very strong. He looked impressive, very solid." After the injury, Mousakhani decided to save himself for the second round of the Strongman Champions League, in Dubai, rather than risk putting himself out of that competition as well.

Mostert has been coming to Latvia for six years, but he said fans told him that "This was the best strongman show in Latvia ever." The arena was nearly sold out, Mostert said, with "a crowd of six or seven thousand."

"Travis Ortmayer was very impressive," said Mostert. "He won the stones . . . as usual!"

Total prize money was US$20,000, Mostert confirmed, with $6,000 going to the winner - and the money was paid in cash immediately after the contest ended, Mostert said.