2012 Arnold Strongman Classic Athletes List Released

[Bryan Hildebrand]

What could be arguably billed as the largest collection of male athletes in the world, the 2012 Arnold Strongman Challenge has released it's list of invitees. With a few new comers, a few veterans, a standalone world record holder, 3 Arnold champions and 2 of the biggest men ever to compete in the sport, it is gonna be one hell of a ride in Columbus, March 2nd and 3rd.
This list is of the 8 invitees named thus far. The final two will be named after the LA Fit Expo All American Strongman Challenge this coming weekend in Los Angeles, Ca. We are awaiting an email form Odd Haugen, LA Fit Strongman organizer so we can begin to determine who the final two might be. More as this develops.


http://www.rxmuscle.com/strength-art...lete-list.html (http://www.rxmuscle.com/strength-articles/4921-breaking-news-2012-arnold-strongman-athlete-list.html)

[robert da strongman]

Lot of meat up in that stage. Disappointing that Terry Hollands isn't up there

[Bryan Hildebrand]

and apparently he is not competing in LA this weekend either. i just got the LA Fit athlete list from Odd. Will post it shortly.

[robert da strongman]

Wonder if he's hurt?

[Bryan Hildebrand]

he had a bicep injury plaguing him last year at LA Fit, Arnold and WSM.

[robert da strongman]

he had a bicep injury plaguing him last year at LA Fit, Arnold and WSM.

I think he did say that at the final...

[smj091977]

No Travis? Any news on him Ryan??

[Bryan Hildebrand]

should hear from travis in the coming days...

[smj091977]

Thanks Bryan. I didn't know if Ryan would have the inside track or not. Travis has had a tough year or so. Not seeing him listed at a competition he was routinely placing at is troubling. I am hoping all is well.

[smj091977]

Lot of meat up in that stage. Disappointing that Terry Hollands isn't up there
I second this! A tough competitor, I hope to see him compete again soon.
How's Life treating you Robert? Gearing up for the next comp, Florida starts early doesn't it?

[robert da strongman]

I second this! A tough competitor, I hope to see him compete again soon.
How's Life treating you Robert? Gearing up for the next comp, Florida starts early doesn't it?

not bad finally back to work...no comps in my future. one i planned on had the sanctioning pulled. but there is one in september.

[robert da strongman]

something about the arnold strongman..

http://rxmuscle.com/access-bodybuilding/4926-jefftheproducer-accessbodybuilding-v15-4085.html

[robert da strongman]

Looks like Lawrence Shahlaei got an invite to the arnold....

[Bryan Hildebrand]

thanks for the update. pretty sure there are one or two guys on the original list who wont be competing. adding shahlaei will fill the number 9 spot and todays winner in LA number 10. however, I think two will drop and we will see at least one more american.

[robert da strongman]

Got that via tweet...terry hollands not happy

[Ryan Bracewell]

No Travis? Any news on him Ryan??

Travis is on a short list of possible invites if someone drops out. Rumor has it that Baron and Bennie are/have declined their offers, so that would leave two more spots open. Nothing official though

[Bryan Hildebrand]

my assumption is they are waiting to see how LA shook out. add burke to that list and it makes 10, but baron is simply not ready for this level at his current size. he did well at WSM, but the arnold is a whole different ball game. big heavy heavy stuff. hopefully travis gets the invite and we will have five americans.

[Ryan Bracewell]

Terry Todd's response to some of the criticism he has been taking for the athlete and event choices this year.


A Response to Fans About the 2012 Arnold Strongman Classic Events and Contestants

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve received a number of emails from fans of the Strongman sport questioning some of our choices about contestants, events, or both. Naturally, I and my committee take this questioning seriously and I thought the easiest way to provide answers would be to do it through www.arnoldstrongmanclassic.com (http://www.arnoldstrongmanclassic.com/) (our own website) as well as the main website of the Arnold Sports Festival (http://www.arnoldsportsfestival.com/...n-classic.html (http://www.arnoldsportsfestival.com/home/sports-and-events/strongman-classic.html)). I’ve informed everyone who emailed me about our choices that I’d do my best to answer all of their questions at the same time and on a public site.

Some of the emails suggested that it was a mistake not to have invited Terry Hollands, who finished third in the most recent WSM contest. First, I think it’s fair to note that in last year’s ASC—which of course is a much better predictor for the following ASC than is the WSM—Terry placed next to last overall and never placed above sixth in any event. (The only man he beat was Sergeii Romanchuk who, by the way, is not being considered for this year’s event and has never been considered for the 2012 event, contrary to sites who failed to check their facts.) Perhaps this happened because Terry came to the 2011 ASC with a pre-existing injury even though we have always made a point of asking our competitors to let us know if they’ve injured themselves so we can have a chance to get a good replacement. On several occasions, in fact, when an invited athlete has told us he was hurt we thanked him for his candor and gave him a rain-check for a future contest. However, even though Terry’s having failed to inform us left a bad taste in the mouths of some of our officials—especially the one who had asked him after he arrived in Columbus if he had an injury—we have not eliminated him from the list of those we are considering. In fact, we suspected that he’d enter the FitExpo contest next weekend and perhaps earn his place by winning there. What’s more, even though he decided not to come to the LAFitExpo event, he’s still among those our short list. Terry’s a very able Strongman, but so are several other as-yet-uninvited men. Please note that that we have not yet invited all the competitors for 2012.

The invited competitors who were mentioned in some of the emails as being less able than Hollands—besides Romanchuk—were Koklyaev, Magnusson, and Bjornsson. As for Koklyaev, not only has he generally performed with distinction and flair at our event in the past, he has officially snatched 462 and cleaned and jerked 552. Consider those numbers. For those who haven’t followed the ASC from the beginning, our committee always made it clear that we wanted to have a Strongman competition which would also be open to top men from WL and PL—the other two premier “strength sports, and Misha is a genuinely elite lifter over the past decade or so. As things turned out, most of the best men in those two sports over the years have declined our invitations—perhaps because they didn’t feel they had the time to train the events or because they were concerned about an injury or losing face against the giants who now rule Strongman. In somewhat the same way, we invited Benedikt Magnusson this year because he’s the greatest superheavy deadlifter in history. Furthermore, when he was injured prior to a recent ASC he wrote to inform me of the injury so I thanked him for helping us to have a better contest and told him I’d give him a rain-check which he could cash when he felt he was back to full strength. He’s feeling it, and we’ll see how he does in early March.

Hafthor Bjornsson was invited in part because I was told that Matesz Baron—who had an automatic invitation because he won the “Amateur” contest at last year’s Arnold Sports Festival—had sustained an injury, and because Hafthor (Wouldn’t “Thorandahaf” or “Two-Thor” be more appropriate for a man of 6’10” and midway between 400 and 500 pounds?) had finished second to Baron. I should add that at this point I’ve gotten conflicting information about Baron’s injury. (I’ve asked Dione Wessels, who directed the amateur contest in which both men competed, to determine his true status.)

On to the Events…

First, I’d urge everyone who hasn’t read the description of the events for this year—which are listed on these two sites and others as well—to do so as it might help anyone to imagine what we’re asking our prodigious athletes to do. The main focus of the comments I’ve received has had to do with doing two partial lifts—(1) using our Apollon’s Wheels at a fixed weight to do repetitions from the floor to the shoulders, and (2) doing reps from the shoulders up with a “log” made of a lot of wood and a little metal. One man wrote to say that both of these events would be “boring,” which seems an odd argument since to my knowledge this will be the first time the Wheels will be lifted only to the top of the chest/shoulders—which for most people is more difficult than lifting them from the shoulders to arms’ length. One thing our committee always considers is the request we receive annually from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jim Lorimer, who coordinates the vast Sports Festival for Arnold, Their request is that they want us to keep the events fresh for the audiences as well as for the athletes. Thus our basic philosophy has been the same since 2002, which is to stay within the basic format of the contest but to also introduce a new event or events or to modify old events so that they provide new challenges to the athletes and entertaining, novel events for the throngs who crowd the stage to watch our human derricks perform. And it goes without saying that at the heart of our efforts is a shared desire to create and implement events which test brute strength and reveal which of our contestants is the strongest man. I believe our record over the past 11 years speaks for itself.

Terry Todd
Director, Arnold Strongman Classic

[robert da strongman]

a great response from Terry Todd. makes a lot of sense from a promoters standpoint.

[TXFatback]

I say give one of those invites to Travis. It gets the crowd geeked up just watching him getting geeked up.

[Bryan Hildebrand]

thanks for posting that ryan.

terry todd and his committee have never disappointed in terms of events nor athletes. last year with so many injuries, its no surprise to see a weird overall outcome. derek withdrawing last minute'ish. terry being hurt, add mark felix, and nick based on performances in LA in 2011, and it made for an interesting event.

so, in speculation only, if baron is out (yet to be confirmed) and benni is 50/50, the addition of shahlaie, add burke in, who gets the invite? travis seems logical. but so does guys like:

krzysztof radzikowski from poland. 2nd giants live poland,

stefan solvi petersen (2nd in LA)

vidas blekatis from lithuania 2009 ASC 4th place

but you have to consider how different these events are compared to WSM. this event always tends to favor the big brutally powerful guys (read big big men) vs the smaller end of the scale height and weight wise. I am interested in seeing what happens with baron and benni... should know more this week I would imagine.

[Ryan Bracewell]

Despite Travis having a down 2011, he has faired well at the Arnold the past 4 years, always placing in the top half (top 3 in 3 of the 4 years if memory serves me).

[Ryan Bracewell]

I tell you what I'm excited to see/hear about is the Arnold Am strongman. Past two years it's produced some really good SM. almost every American to crack top 10 there has become a pro, and from the foreign side you have two or more that have made it to WSM after there appearance at Arnold Am. It's quickly becoming the predictor of who will be the next big thing in SM

[Bryan Hildebrand]

yep. we will be covering it as well as we can this year. last year I only had time to cover the final. I will see if dione has an athlete list yet?

[Ryan Bracewell]

yep. we will be covering it as well as we can this year. last year I only had time to cover the final. I will see if dione has an athlete list yet?

I'm sure she has the tentative list, but I know in years past there have been changes on the America side the week or two before because of injuries

[s2h]

Ryan are you doing the arnold am??

[Ryan Bracewell]

Ryan are you doing the arnold am??

Go sit on your cucumber

......but FYI, I have done it and i placed 5th overall the year Mike Jenkins won

[smj091977]

Thanks to all for the info. I agree with Ryan, Travis has consistently finished on the podium and deserves the invite. As for the axle to shoulder event(yawn), I guess(yawn) it could(yawn) provide:zzzz:

[robert da strongman]

Terry Hollands just tweeted he got an invite to the Arnold

[Bryan Hildebrand]

well, no word on who has dropped, but Terry Hollands has posted on his facebook that he has been invited to this years arnold.

[Ryan Bracewell]

with Terry being invited and no "official" word of who dropped, that makes 11 guys. Im sure one of them will be announced as dropped later today.

11 so far:
Matesz Baron
Haftor Bjornsson
Mike Jenkins
Mikhail Koklyaev
Benedickt Magnusson
Derek Poundstone
Zydrunas Savickas
Laurence Shahlaei
Brian Shaw
Mike Burke
Terry Hollands

I have to say this does not look good for Travis's chances at getting in this year.

[robert da strongman]

Baron is out...


http://www.arnoldsportsfestival.com/home/sports-and-events/strongman-classic.html

[Ryan Bracewell]

that's who i figured it would be.

[robert da strongman]

This lineup should be very impressive.

[s2h]

Go sit on your cucumber
I was
......but FYI, I have done it and i placed 5th overall the year Mike Jenkins woni was really serious...i just didnt know if you were participating in the event...no need to be ugly ryan...oh wait..i did know...you didnt get asked....hahaha..

[Bryan Hildebrand]

baron drops and it changes everything. still think there is one more who will drop this week.

[Ryan Bracewell]

Talked to Travis today at my store. He said Bennie is training hard and is planning to do the Arnold. Also told me that he is the alternate, so if anyone else drops he will be competing.

[robert da strongman]

http://americanstrongman.com/?p=4195


Amateur list for the strongman comp...no americans listed???

[smj091977]

The Americans are in the 4-6th columns, at least now. Looks like about 20, Justin Blake and Mike Mastell are about the only ones I recognize

[robert da strongman]

Must have missed that...

[robert da strongman]

From the arnoldsports twitter


Order of guys in first event. Misha 5, Terry 6, Zydrunas 8, Poundstone 7, Travis 9, Haftor 10, Laurence 1, Jenkins 2, Brian 3, Burke 4

[robert da strongman]

Athletes meeting

http://static.pixelpipe.com/f8803024-0481-4d38-9d6a-a5328a40cb58_m.jpg

[Bryan Hildebrand]

interviews with brian shaw and terry hollands coming up shortly.

[robert da strongman]

http://p.twimg.com/Am8dE5eCMAA8rFt.jpg

[seanmech]

interviews with brian shaw and terry hollands coming up shortly.

Poundstone?

[Bryan Hildebrand]

poundstone was sequestered last night,or so I am told. I did speak with his wife and she says he is more than ready.

internet options are fucking retarded here. finally switched to sprint hotspot and videos are finally uploading to the server as I type this. coming shortly.

[seanmech]

poundstone was sequestered last night,or so I am told. I did speak with his wife and she says he is more than ready.

internet options are fucking retarded here. finally switched to sprint hotspot and videos are finally uploading to the server as I type this. coming shortly.

Great thanks mate have a great weekend

[Ironman19871]

poundstone was sequestered last night,or so I am told. I did speak with his wife and she says he is more than ready.

internet options are fucking retarded here. finally switched to sprint hotspot and videos are finally uploading to the server as I type this. coming shortly.

Thank you Bryan for all the great info this coming weekend. I appreciate it! This is the most exciting Arnold Strongman yet!

[smj091977]

Looks like Z had a great start and Shaw has possibly ripped a bicep.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Mk-R8VQY1xg
I have heard a lot of a three way race with Shaw, Z, and Lbstone but Jenkins and burke are making great showings. Jenkins is in 1st after day 1 and Burke is in 2nd, Poundstone is 3rd, Mischa and Z tied for 4th and Shaw is 6th. 4 and a half points separates 1st through 6th. Hollands, Thor, Loz and Ortmayer are 7-10 in that order. Not sure whats going on with Travis but I hope he can gain some ground on the leaders.

[robert da strongman]

Definitely an interesting turn of events. Cannot wait for the final

[georgeman22]

Robert i think you really hurt from terry Holland? Is it true?