# Strongman Super Series

The Strongman Super Series, known from 2001 to 2004 as the IFSA World Strongman Super Series, from 2005 to 2008 as the World's Strongest Man Super Series, and reverting in 2009 to the World Strongman Super Series, is a sequence of grand prix events in the sport of strength athletics. It was introduced in 2001 in response to concerns that, unlike other individual sports such as golf or tennis, there was no recognized international "tour" in strength athletics. The Strongman Super Series ensures that there are a number of high-profile, professionally run contests during the year, with competitors' placings being used to decide the overall Super Series Champion.
Typically, ten to twelve athletes take part in each GP, comprising the top six in the international rankings and at least four qualifiers or wildcard entries. The winner of each grand prix receives ten series points, the second placed, nine, and so on. The highest scoring competitor at the end of the series is named World Champion.
World Class Events ("WCE") ran the Super Series in co-operation with the International Federation of Strength Athletes ("IFSA") from 2001 to 2004 until IFSA cut ties with WCE and World's Strongest Man and began promoting their own grand prix events and world championships. In 2005, WCE signed a deal with Trans World International ("TWI"), the world's largest independent producer and distributor of sports programming, to have the exclusive rights worldwide to be the only qualifying tour to the MET-Rx World's Strongest Man event for 2005–2008. The top four athletes from each Grand Prix competition receive an automatic invitation to WSM.
On April 27, 2009 Giants Live, an arena-based series of live strongman competitions, was named the Official World's Strongest Man Qualifying Tour for 2009–2011, thus taking over from the Strongman Super Series in this regard. The first 2009 qualifying event took place on May 17 at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, and the second event being the Viking Power competition in Norway, and finishing off the 2009 season in Poland.

## Super Series World Champions

| Year | Athlete | Nationality |
| 2001 | Magnus Samuelsson | Sweden |
| 2002 | Hugo Girard | Canada |
| 2003/4 | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Poland |
| 2004 | Žydrūnas Savickas | Lithuania |
| 2005* | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Poland |
| 2006* | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Poland |
| 2007* | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Poland |
| 2008* | Derek Poundstone | United States |
| 2009 | Brian Shaw | United States |
| 2010 | Brian Shaw | United States |
*WSM Super Series

### 2001

The International Federation of Strength Athletes co-produced the Strongman Super Series events from 2001 to 2004 along with World Class Events (WCE)/Ulf Bengtsson.
| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Netherlands Holland Grand Prix | Wout Zijlstra | Magnus Samuelsson | Svend Karlsen | 20 May 2001 |
| Prague, Czech Republic Czech Grand Prix | Hugo Girard | Svend Karlsen | Magnus Samuelsson | 18 August 2001 |
| Stockholm, Sweden Sweden Grand Prix | Magnus Samuelsson | Hugo Girard | Svend Karlsen | 28 October 2001 |
| Overall placings | Magnus Samuelsson (15 points) | Hugo Girard (13 points) | Svend Karlsen (13 points) | |

### 2002

| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Aberdeen, Scotland Scotland Grand Prix | Svend Karlsen | Hugo Girard | Janne Virtanen | 16 June 2002 |
| Stockholm, Sweden Sweden Grand Prix | Hugo Girard | Svend Karlsen | Žydrūnas Savickas | 23 November 2002 |
| Honolulu, Hawaii, United States Hawaii Grand Prix | Hugo Girard | Žydrūnas Savickas | Mariusz Pudzianowski | 17 January 2003 |
| Overall placings | Hugo Girard (17 points) | Svend Karlsen (13 points) | Žydrūnas Savickas 9 points) | |
* ↑ Although held in 2003 the 2002 Hawaii Grand Prix was the final event of the 2002 Strongman Super Series and was not a part of, and had no effect on, the 2003 series.
* Strossen, Randall J. (19 January 2003). "Hugo Girard: World Record in Farmer's Walk". IronMind. Archived from the original on 26 December 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2023.

### 2003

| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Honolulu, Hawaii, United States Hawaii Grand Prix | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Raimonds Bergmanis | Žydrūnas Savickas | 18 January 2003 |
| Silvolde, Netherlands Holland Grand Prix | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Žydrūnas Savickas | Jarno Hams | 14 June 2003 |
| North Bay, Canada Canada Grand Prix | Hugo Girard | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Svend Karlsen | 1 August 2003 |
| Imatra, Finland Finland Grand Prix | Hugo Girard | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Raimonds Bergmanis | 16 August 2003 |
| Columbus, Ohio, United States 2004 Arnold's Strongest Man | Žydrūnas Savickas | Svend Karlsen | Raimonds Bergmanis | 5-6 March 2004 |
| Overall placings | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Žydrūnas Savickas | Raimonds Bergmanis | |
* ↑ Although held in 2004 the 2004 Arnold's Strongest Man was the final event of the 2003 Strongman Super Series and was not a part of, and had no effect on, the 2004 series.

### 2004

| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Moscow, Russia Moscow Grand Prix | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Žydrūnas Savickas | Vasyl Virastyuk | 11 July 2004 |
| Gothenburg, Sweden Sweden Grand Prix | Magnus Samuelsson | Žydrūnas Savickas | Svend Karlsen | 5 December 2004 |
| Overall placings | Žydrūnas Savickas | Vasyl Virastyuk | Mariusz Pudzianowski/ Magnus Samuelsson | |

### 2005

Beginning in 2005, WSM/WCE cut all ties with IFSA, who had begun promoting their own separate grand prix events and world championships. The Strongman Super Series then became known as the World's Strongest Man Super Series and was the official qualifying tour for World's Strongest Man from 2005 to 2008.
| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Los Angeles, California, United States Met-Rx Grand Prix | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Jesse Marunde | Janne Virtanen | 18 June 2005 |
| Malbork, Poland Nautilus Grand Prix | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Slawomir Toczek | Jesse Marunde | 16 July 2005 |
| Varberg, Sweden Vulkan Grand Prix | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Janne Virtanen | Jesse Marunde | 30 July 2005 |
| Uncansville, Connecticut, United States Mohegan Sun Grand Prix | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Jessen Paulin | Don Pope | 10 August 2005 |
| Overall placings | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Jesse Marunde | Janne Virtanen | |

### 2006

| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Uncansville, Connecticut, United States Mohegan Sun Grand Prix | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Jesse Marunde | Josh Thigpen | 1 June 2006 |
| Moscow, Russia Moscow Grand Prix | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Elbrus Nigmatullin | Jessen Paulin | 2 July 2006 |
| Milicz, Poland Poland Grand Prix | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Jarek Dymek | Sebastian Wenta | 12 August 2006 |
| Overall placings | Mariusz Pudzianowski | | | |

### 2007

| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Uncansville, Connecticut, United States Mohegan Sun Grand Prix | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Kevin Nee | Mark Felix | 22 April 2007 |
| Los Angeles, California, United States Venice Beach Grand Prix | Dave Ostlund | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Jesse Marunde | 16 June 2007 |
| Gol, Norway Viking Power Challenge | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Jarek Dymek | Magnus Samuelsson | 7 July 2007 |
| Overall placings | Mariusz Pudzianowski | | | |

### 2008

| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Uncansville, Connecticut, United States Mohegan Sun Grand Prix | Derek Poundstone | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Terry Hollands | 19 January 2008 |
| New York City, New York, United States Madison Square Garden Grand Prix | Travis Ortmayer | Derek Poundstone | Dave Ostlund | 21 June 2008 |
| Gol, Norway Viking Power Challenge | Arild Haugen | Sebastian Wenta | Richard Skog | 5 July 2008 |
| Lysekil, Sweden Sweden Grand Prix | Magnus Samuelsson | Tarmo Mitt | Richard Skog | 16 August 2008 |
| Overall placings | Derek Poundstone | | | |

### 2009

Giants Live replaced the World's Strongest Man Super Series beginning in 2009 as the official qualifying tour for the World's Strongest Man. However, Strongman Super Series continued to hold events under the new title of World Strongman Super Series in 2009 & 2010.
| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Bucharest, Romania Romania Grand Prix | Marshall White | Nick Best | Johannes Arsjo | 4 July 2009 |
| Los Angeles, California, United States Venice Beach Grand Prix | Brian Shaw | Stoyan Todorchev | Jason Bergmann | 14 November 2009 |
| Gothenburg, Sweden Sweden Grand Prix | Brian Shaw | Stoyan Todorchev | Jason Bergmann | 5 December 2009 |
| Overall placings | Brian Shaw (27 points) | Stoyan Todorchev (24 points) | Nick Best (21 points) | |

### 2010

| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Uncansville, Connecticut, United States Mohegan Sun Grand Prix | Derek Poundstone | Brian Shaw | Stoyan Todorchev | 25 April 2010 |
| Gol, Norway Viking Power Challenge | Brian Shaw | Johannes Arsjo | Laurence Shahlaei | 26 June 2010 |
| Lysekil, Sweden Sweden Grand Prix | Brian Shaw | Nick Best | Laurence Shahlaei | 17 December 2010 |
| Overall placings | Brian Shaw (33 points) | Dave Ostlund (19.5 points) | Laurence Shahlaei (16 points) | |