Special Guest Contest Report: Dave Ostlund from the World's Strongest Man - October 3, 2007

by Mike Gill

I flew out to Anaheim the morning of Sept. 11th with Karl Gillingham, Jason Bergmann, and Don Pope. Don Pope must have used the bathroom on the plane about 4 times and after his last trip, I wouldn't be surprised if the plane got taken out of service permanently. There are some smells that just never go away. We got to the hotel in the afternoon and started playing the big waiting game that goes on at WSM. The contest didn't start for another 4 days and the only thing to do was eat, watch TV, or go to the pool.

On Thursday, the 13th, we had event testing and familiarization where each of the five groups goes to the training yard separately and gets a chance to try the equipment for each event and ask any specific rules questions. Some athletes will treat this as a hard training session and others will do as little as possible. There is a lot of mental warfare that goes on at this session. Some guys try and make every event look super easy to psych everyone out. Others will try events while not having their head in "contest mode" and psych themselves out. I just tried a couple of the new events like the 55 gallon plastic barrel carry, a little bit of keg toss, and got measured for the squat machine. The first time Mariusz lifted the plastic barrel, he could barely do it and couldn't take more than a couple of steps. After 30 minutes of training with it, he was running with them.

Friday was a little more eventful because we now had something to talk about after the training day. Some guys were feeling overly confident and others had their confidence deflated a bit. I tried to get my mind off of strongman so I didn't go crazy. I had a sushi dinner with (Phil) Pfister and then played pool with Jimmy Marku who, by the way, is a hell of a pool player. A couple of our games were very close and I couldn't help but think that our battle in the qualifiers would be just as close.

The first day of qualifiers started on Saturday, the 15th. Group 4, which I was in, had only one event that day. It was a medley consisting of a 495 lb duck walk for 10 meters, followed by carrying a 242 lb water filled plastic drum for 10 meters, and finally a 220 lb drum for 10 meters. Our group had the benefit of seeing a couple of the other heats run the course first, which is a big advantage on a brand new event. It's two different things to see people try a new event in the training yard as opposed to watching them do it in full WSM competition mode. I was set to go head to head with Janne Virtanen and Mariusz Pudzianowski who, besides both being former world champions, are two of the fastest strongmen ever on these types of medley events. As we walked up to the start line, the flood of nerves and adrenaline kicked in and I could not stop my hands from shaking. The whistle blew and I got off to a good start. The three of us were even through the duck walk and the first barrel. Mariusz got ahead of me just a bit on the pick-up of the 2nd barrel and I started pulling away from Janne a bit. It stayed this way and I placed 2nd, about one second behind Mariusz and 1 second ahead of Janne. I was pleased, as I was aiming for a top 2 finish in this event.

On Sunday our group had Hercules Hold in the morning and Overhead Log Lift for repetitions in the afternoon. My plan going into it was to try to be top three in Hercules Hold and possibly a third place on Log Lift if things went really well. I watched Mariusz and Jimmy go first on Hercules Hold and they put up times of 46 secs and 40 secs, respectively. I felt I was capable of beating both those marks, as I had recorded a time of 45 sec on this equipment two years ago in the final. As I set up on the apparatus I just could not get the handles to feel comfortable in my grip. Finally, after a couple of tries I was ready to go. As soon as the weight was released I did not feel comfortable. I couldn't totally stabilize the pillars and the weights started feeling heavy before I reached the 10 sec mark. In the past when I had done this event I would usually go the first 25 sec before it felt like I had any weight in my hands. 46 sec seemed out of reach and 40 sec was going to be a miracle. I fought as hard as I could but only held for 36 sec. This was very disappointing as I was sure that time was only going to get me one point. Boris (Haraldsson) was next and he had a hard fight as well; only making it to 33 sec. I was somewhat relieved that I was probably going to get two points after my horrible performance. My concern was that Virtanen has done very well on this before and if he won the event he was going to gain a lot of points on me. Like Boris and me, he struggled on this event as well and only held for 38 sec. After this event Mariusz had already built a four point lead over second place and it was becoming apparent that there was only one spot for the finals between the remaining four competitors.

Log Lift was later that afternoon. It was 275 lbs cleaned once and pressed for maximum reps in 75 seconds. The logs we used are about nine inches in diameter, seven and half feet long and quite unbalanced. Any overhead pressing has been my biggest weak point in this sport, but after working on it very hard over the last year and having a great training cycle on log in the weeks leading up to WSM, I felt I would be competitive on it. I went out and made the first seven quite easily then worked hard to get to nine. I set it down for a quick rest about 35 sec in. At about 20 sec remaining I cleaned it and gutted one last rep out. Ten reps was one less than my training record at that weight, but the equipment was more difficult and the warm-up at the event was less than ideal. Virtanen, who had been lifting concurrently, managed eight reps. I was happy that I performed to my abilities, but was skeptical of sneaking up higher than fourth as the big pressers were up next. Boris and Jimmy tied at 13 and then Mariusz made an easy 18 before running out of time. After this event people were starting to realize that Mariusz was in better form than most, if not all, had ever seen from him before.

I spent Sunday night obsessing over what to do on the squat the next day. I have been dealing with a slight tear in my right quadriceps tendon for the last 18 months as well as severe tendinitis in both knees that can come and go for no real reason. My knees were hurting very badly after log lift. I knew the other four athletes in my group were excellent in squat and that it was one of my weakest events. The only chance I really had to place higher than fifth in this event was if one of the other athletes suffered a bad injury early in the event. I don't like admitting that, as I always go out in every event to try and win it. But in a contest like this, it helps to be objective about your abilities and use some strategy when necessary. I thought it might be smart to do just one easy rep, get one point, save my energy, and reduce any injury risk for the last two events. The two athletes who went prior to me made all seven lifts and without too much difficulty. As I was getting my knees wrapped I made the decision to really go for it and see what happened. The first four squats felt very easy, five was a bit slow, and I had to take a couple big breaths before I gutted out a tough number six. I racked it since I knew I was too slow at this point and the seventh rep, which I believe was 790, was going to be borderline. So I ended up fifth anyways, but squatted two more reps than I did in 2005 on that machine. Jimmy Marku was very impressive on this and beat Mariusz by about one second for the event win. Jimmy also had built a 4.5 point lead on me in overall standings and I now only had two events left to catch him.

Tuesday, the 18th, was the final day of qualifiers and our group had keg toss and atlas stones left to do. I needed to have a great day to have any chance to make the finals at this point. The standings going into the day were:

1. Mariusz-19pts 2. Jimmy-13.5pts 3. Boris-9.5pts 4. Me-9pts 5. Janne-9pts

I had a feeling that the fight for first on keg toss would be between me, Mariusz, and Boris. I really needed Virtanen to beat Jimmy on this event as well. This event involved throwing 10 kegs over a 14 and a half foot wall for the fastest time. The kegs are thrown behind the head while having your back to the wall. Mariusz went out first and got all 10 kegs in 46 seconds. He missed on two throws that he had to repeat and that took an extra ten seconds or so. This event is very nerve wracking because there is a lot of room for error. Like Karl Gillingham said, this event is like shooting free throws, you can be the best in the world at it, but if you miss a couple at crucial times it doesn't matter if you went 100% in the regular season or practice. My training for this had gone well, but I also knew that I had a tendency to get too amped up sometimes and that usually meant missing one of the first two kegs by either throwing very high without enough backward arc or throwing hard and flat and right into the wall. The biggest challenge was to stay relaxed. The whistle blew and I made the first two successfully, which was a good sign. When I released number five I wasn't sure I put enough arc on, but it cleared ok. The same thing happened on eight, but it went over. I was getting very tired now and starting to lose explosiveness. I put as much power as possible on number nine and ten and they cleared. It was a great run. I had gone ten for ten and the referee informed me that I had finished in 33 seconds. Boris was up next and I felt like he was the only other athlete who could potentially beat that. He was very fired up as he had just as good a chance at making the final as I did. His first five were very fast and it appeared he was on pace for a sub-30 sec time. He missed on six though and then again on seven. It was enough to put him off my pace. Virtanen also came through for me and made, I think, five kegs and beat Jimmy who made two or three.

After that finish I now sat in third only a half point behind Jimmy. Atlas stones have almost always been my best event and as long as I beat Jimmy and posted a top three time for my heat I would move into second and advance to the finals. The platforms at WSM are very high and Jimmy being only 5'7" was at a big height disadvantage. I was feeling very confident but knew I couldn't relax too much. My stone run was a little conservative because I did not want to risk throwing one over the box. I did all five in 22 seconds, and Jimmy made all five in 27 seconds. I ended up winning the stones and securing a second place finish in my group. At this point I was very relieved that I was through to the final.

After two days of rest and another event familiarization we were ready to start finals on Friday. The first two of the seven events were a loading race and the overhead safelift for reps. The loading consisted of two 55-gallon plastic drums weighing 242lbs and 220lbs, and then two kegs weighing 242lbs each. The objects were about 10 meters away from the 50" high platform they were to be loaded on. They were also required to be done in that order. I felt I could do very well on the loading since I was able to carry the big barrels upright in my arms instead of staggered like kegs. This allowed me to immediately drop them on the platform when I got there instead of having to take extra time and lift the barrels higher before turning them upright. I finished all four in a time of 44 seconds. The next closest of the other four athletes in my heat was 20 seconds slower and some did not finish. In the next heat, Mariusz absolutely flew and completed the course in 37 sec for the win and Terry Hollands beat me by about three tenths of a second to put me down into third for the event. Still though, it wasn't a bad start.

The overhead safelift was announced at 275 lbs but the athletes were told it was closer to 290. I knew this wasn't going to be my best event, but I had been getting about eight reps at 280 in training with my yoke. The problem for me, as I was about to find out, was that the crossbar on my yoke was welded and did not rotate like the safelift apparatus. This seemed to bother Terry and I the most as he got three reps and I only managed one lift. This put me in ninth place. I'm sure it would have been tenth but Tarmo Mitt dropped out after the first event with a torn bicep. After a turbulent first day I was sitting in sixth overall.

On Saturday we did Fingal Fingers, Car Deadlift, and the Harness and Rope truck pull with a fire truck. The fingers have always come pretty naturally to me and I had trained them hard in the months prior to this contest. I was going head to head with Sebastian Wenta of Poland who I knew was also quite good in this event. The first three felt very light and we both raced through them, number four was also easy, but it took me an extra second at the top to overcome the leverage. The fifth and last finger also felt easier that ever and I flipped it without difficulty. Wenta had beat me but I knew I had also posted a good time. It turned out that Wenta had just broken the world record with a time of 30 sec and I had finished in 34 seconds which was five seconds better that I had ever done. In a huge shock, Mariusz came in second in the event with 31 seconds. In the past he has always struggled on this event and is now one of the best in the world on it. My time held up for fourth overall on the event. This time would have won the event two years ago and placed me second last year. It just shows how much the standard is rising each year.

The car deadlift was on an apparatus with a straight bar. In the training yard they put it on a scale and it weighed 323kg or 711 lbs in the hands. On the day of the event they put a couple more 10kg plates in the back of the car just to make it a bit harder. The path the bar traveled on that apparatus made it more difficult than a regular bar. It came in towards the thighs as you came up with it and forced the athletes to start with the bar about an extra inch away from the shins. It was definitely heavier this year than last year and you needed a lot of back strength to overcome the weird bar path. Kevin Nee went first and pulled seven reps. I knew this would be a good target since Kevin is one of the best, perhaps the best, strongman deadlifters in the U.S.. I went up and blew the first three reps up very easily. Number four was a little slower and the fifth I had to really fight, especially at the lockout. I rested for about 15 seconds, tried again but my back had nothing left. Mark Felix did 11 for the win, Mariusz got 10, and Terry did 8. My total was enough for fifth place.

Truck pull was the last event of the day and I went out first. The course was 24 meters long and we had 75 seconds. Truck pull is usually a pretty good event for me so I was hoping to set a good time. The pull was extremely heavy the whole way and when the whistle blew I had gone about 22.7 meters and was totally spent. I watched the next three athletes also fail to finish. Pfister then came out and muscled the whole course in 55 seconds. Magnus (Samuelsson) with perfect form finished in 48 seconds. Then Mariusz came out like a machine and did the course in an amazing 42 seconds. Terry (Hollands), with a very impressive run, beat Mariusz by about a second and got his first event win of the final. I ended up a disappointing seventh on what is usually a good event for me. I was still in sixth overall at the end of Day 2.

The final day we had car walk and atlas stones. I went into the day trailing Magnus by three points. I felt I had a chance to catch him as well, since yoke walk has been going very well for me this year and I was hoping for a high finish on the car walk. The car was 924 lbs and had to be carried for 25 meters. Kevin Nee went first and did the course in 23 seconds. Kevin is always good on yoke so I knew that would be a good target to shoot for. On my run I did the first ten meters at an ok pace, but then I really slowed down. The car walk seems to fatigue my legs much harder than a regular yoke does. I fought very hard not to set it down and finished the course in 28 seconds. Like the truck pull, I was disappointed because another event I thought to be strong for me turned out poorly. Magnus beat me by less that a second and Mark Felix beat me by almost eight seconds. It seemed that fifth had slipped away and if I wasn't careful on stones I might drop into seventh. I ended up in eighth on this. Mariusz was in superhuman mode for this event and did the whole course in 14 seconds. It was one of the most impressive things I've ever seen in person.

Stones were the final event and like in the prelims the stones were right next to the platforms. I was paired with Magnus and still had an outside shot at fifth. Plus, this is one of the guys who I grew up watching compete and now I had a chance to prove my stone lifting ability against him; one of the best ever on the event. The whistle blew and before I realized it we were both through the first four stones and were almost dead even. I loaded my last on quickly, but Magnus dropped the fifth and it cost him serious time. I moved into the overall lead with a time of 19.5 seconds. Magnus's slip had him finishing around the 26 second mark. After we finished I checked the scorer's table and Kevin was already wedged between the two of us. Mariusz and Phil were up next. Mariusz had already won the whole contest, but he wants to win every event and was going very fast. He went too fast and threw the fourth stone over the platform. Phil finished all five just a second slower than me and Mariusz's error put him into last on the stones. With Terry and Sebastian up next, I needed one of them to come between Magnus and me. We would have tied on points, but my high placings on loading and stones would have given me the tie-breaker. These two were fighting it out for second overall in the contest though, and went at the stones fast. Terry beat me by a hair and Wenta got me by about a second. I placed third overall on the stones and sixth in the overall one point behind Magnus.

Two years ago I finished ninth in the final, so my sixth place was a good improvement. But I'm not satisfied yet. Wenta improved a ton this year and Terry was very impressive, especially on the last four events where he did not place out of the top three on any of them. Kevin had some great performances in his first final and is just going to get better. Just when people thought Mariusz might be starting the decline of his career after last year's WSM, he somehow found a way to reach a new level that no one there had ever seen him at before.

It was an honor to compete in the final this year against one of toughest groups of athletes ever at WSM. I also had a huge fan base that came out to support me which was very helpful. I'm looking forward to next year and hopefully I'll be competing at WSM again.

CHECK OUT SOME PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT OVER AT MY SITE

Posted by Mike Gill at 11:50 AM

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