# International Federation of Strength Athletes

The International Federation of Strength Athletes (IFSA or IFSA Strongman) was an international governing body for strongman competition. IFSA operated from 1995 to 2007 and was based in Glasgow, Scotland.

## History
### Origins

In 1995, David Webster, a Scotsman who later received an OBE for his services to sport and head coordinator of the World's Strongest Man from its inception, and his colleague Dr Douglas Edmunds, seven-times Scottish shot and discus champion and twice world caber champion, along with representatives from the competitors in strength athletics including Jamie Reeves, Ilkka Kinnunen and Marcel Mostert formed a governing body called the International Federation of Strength Athletes ("IFSA"). IFSA ran its own grand prix events from 1995 to 2001 in cooperation with WSM. IFSA began co-producing the Strongman Super Series events from 2001 to 2004, still in cooperation with WSM. IFSA entered an agreement with World Class Events (WCE), headed by Ulf Bengtsson, to run the Strongman Super Series. The Strongman Super Series was designed to award the annual Strongman World Championship title, but also acted as a qualifying vehicle for the World's Strongest Man contest.

### Split with WSM

For almost a decade IFSA and WSM worked in full cooperation, but this changed at the end of the 2004 season when IFSA returned to organizing its own grand prix events and World Strongman Championships from 2005 to 2007. The InvestGroup Ventures' sports rights management arm, InvestGroup Sports Management, invested heavily into IFSA and this led to the creation of IFSA Strongman. The strategy was to acquire most of the international assets and properties relating to the strongman sport. In essence this was a new organization with some, such as Magnus Samuelsson describing it as "a new company...with the same name as our old federation". The attempt at dominance was not well received by TWI/WSM and disagreement ensued leading to a split in the sport. When IFSA and WSM split in 2004, the Strongman Super Series sided with TWI/WSM forming a rival federation to the IFSA. With the WSM being a TWI owned event, IFSA Holdings announced its own World Strongman Championships for 2005, to be held in Quebec, and thus from that point had no involvement in the WSM contest. From this point, IFSA continued to organize the annual IFSA World Strongman Championships and a series of Grand Prix events throughout the year. Between 2005 and 2007 IFSA had their own version of other major events such as a rival IFSA version of Europe's Strongest Man, known as Europe's Strongest Man (IFSA).
Thus, the world of strength athletics became fragmented, with a number of individuals being able to lay claim to be the strongest in the world by virtue of having won mutually exclusive events. Athletes affiliated to IFSA Strongman were not allowed to compete in the World's Strongest Man ("WSM"), which is produced by TWI and thus neither WSM and its associated Strongman Super Series nor the IFSA circuit could claim to have a comprehensive field of the top athletes. Some events did exist that bridged the divide between the major organizations, such as the Arnold Strongman Classic and Fortissimus.

### Dissolution of IFSA/birth of SCL

After the 2007 IFSA World Championships in South Korea, news began to circulate of athletes not being paid, and equipment shipping costs not being honored. IFSA eventually ended up owing $63,000 for shipping their equipment from England to South Korea and finally to Philadelphia. When the money was not paid, the equipment was put up for sale and was eventually purchased by other strongman contest promoters. The 2007 IFSA World Championships would be the final contest run solely by, and under the banner of, IFSA.
In 2008 IFSA executives Ilkka Kinnunen and Marcel Mostert developed the Strongman Champions League and negotiated with IFSA to use its athletes. However, the dissolution of IFSA meant that since the end of 2007, the Strongman Champions League still operated independent of IFSA. Gradually, the last vestiges of IFSA influence began to diminish which led to the breaking down of barriers between the various concurrent circuits. Strength athletes were able to compete in more than one circuit and did so, with a cross over of athletes between the Giants Live circuit, the Strongman Champions League and the Strongman Super Series being apparent. The 2009 World's Strongest Man was therefore anticipated by the strength athletics world as promising to be "the best one yet" because the organisers could ensure invites were made to "every top athlete in the world" regardless of their affiliation to any particular strength athletics body.

## IFSA Strongman World Championships
### 2005: IFSA Strongman World Championships

Dates: 25 September 2005
Quebec City, Canada
| Position | Name | Points |
| 1. | Žydrūnas Savickas | 103 |
| 2. | Vasyl Virastyuk | 96 |
| 3. | Mikhail Koklyaev | 93.5 |
| 4. | Andrus Murumets | 86 |
| 5. | Raimonds Bergmanis | 84.5 |
| 6. | Phil Pfister | 82.5 |
| 7. | Vidas Blekaitis | 81.5 |
| 8. | Magnus Samuelsson | 69 |
| 9. | Robert Szczepanski | 67 |
| 10. | Travis Ortmayer | 64.5 |
| 11. | Geoff Dolan | 54.5 |
| 12. | Karl Gillingham | 43 |

### 2006: IFSA Strongman World Championships

Dates: 24, 25 November 2006
Reykjavik, Iceland
* This was the first year that qualifying heats were used. There were 3 heats, with the top 4 from each heat moving on to the finals.
| Position | Name | Points |
| 1. | Žydrūnas Savickas | 80.5 |
| 2. | Mikhail Koklyaev | 78.5 |
| 3. | Vasyl Virastyuk | 72 |
| 4. | Vidas Blekaitis | 70 |
| 5. | Andrus Murumets | 55 |
| 6. | Robert Szczepanski | 46.5 |
| 7. | Benedikt Magnusson | 44.5 |
| 8. | Oli Thompson | 43 |
| 9. | Nick Best | 38 |
| 10. | Travis Ortmayer | 35 |
| 11. | Saulius Brusokas | 33.5 |
| 12. | Ervin Katona | 20.5 |

### 2007: IFSA Strongman World Championships

Dates: 12–15 September 2007
Geumsan, South Korea
* The 2007 competition included 6 qualifying heats, with the top 2 from each heat moving on to the finals.
| Position | Name | Points |
| 1. | Vasyl Virastyuk | 57.5 |
| 2. | Mikhail Koklyaev | 52.5 |
| 3. | Žydrūnas Savickas | 51.5 |
| 4. | Derek Poundstone | 50.5 |
| 5. | Andrus Murumets | 46.5 |
| 6. | Vidas Blekaitis | 41.5 |
| 7. | Robert Szczepanski | 40 |
| 8. | Van Hatfield | 32.5 |
| 9. | Saulius Brusokas | 29.5 |
| 10. | Tom McClure | 26 |
| 11. | Ervin Katona | 20.5 |
| 12. | Jarno Hams | 17.5 |

## Grand Prix events
### 1995

| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place |
| Copenhagen, Denmark World's Strongest Viking | Heinz Ollesch | Flemming Rasmussen | Torfi Olaffson |
| Klaipėda, Lithuania Lithuania Grand Prix | Gary Taylor | Forbes Cowan | Stasys Mėčius |
| Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany Manfred Höberl Classic | Magnus Ver Magnusson | Gary Taylor | Heinz Ollesch |
| Scandinavia's Strongest Man | Flemming Rasmussen | | |

### 1996

| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Copenhagen, Denmark World's Strongest Viking | Flemming Rasmussen | Magnus Ver Magnusson | Torfi Olaffson | |
| Denmark Denmark Grand Prix | Riku Kiri | Magnus Ver Magnusson | Flemming Rasmussen | |
| Klaipėda, Lithuania Lithuania Grand Prix | Riku Kiri | Heinz Ollesch | Magnus Ver Magnusson | 7 July 1996 |
| Scandinavia's Strongest Man | Flemming Rasmussen | | | |

### 1997

| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place |
| Meerssen, Netherlands European Open | Riku Kiri | Gerrit Badenhorst | Magnus Ver Magnusson |
| Copenhagen, Denmark World's Strongest Viking | Flemming Rasmussen | Riku Kiri | Magnus Ver Magnusson |
| Klaipėda, Lithuania Lithuania Grand Prix | Stasys Mecius | Raimonds Bergmanis | Magnus Ver Magnusson |
| Scandinavia's Strongest Man | Flemming Rasmussen | | |

### 1998

| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Helsinki, Finland Helsinki Grand Prix | Magnus Samuelsson | Riku Kiri | Svend Karlsen | 14 March 1998 |
| Klaipėda, Lithuania Lithuania Grand Prix | Jamie Reeves | Raimunds Kencivikius | Wayne Price | 1 August 1998 |
| Budapest, Hungary Hungary Grand Prix | Riku Kiri | Flemming Rasmussen | László Fekete | 2 August 1998 |
| Arnbruck, Germany Germany Grand Prix | Riku Kiri | Jouko Ahola | Heinz Ollesch | 5 September 1998 |
| Faroe Islands Atlantic Giant | Magnus Samuelsson | Riku Kiri | Svend Karlsen | |

### 1999

| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Helsinki, Finland Finland Grand Prix | Jouko Ahola | Sami Heinonen | Janne Virtanen | 6 March 1999 |
| Faroe Islands Atlantic Giant | Jouko Ahola | Regin Vagadal | Magnus Samuelsson | 16 May 1999 |
| Keszthely. Hungary Hungary Grand Prix | Berend Veneberg | Gerrit Badenhorst | Jouko Ahola | 18 July 1999 |
| Hardenberg, Netherlands Holland Grand Prix | Gerrit Badenhorst | Jouko Ahola | Berend Veneberg | 24 July 1999 |
| Prague, Czech Republic Czech Grand Prix | Magnus Samuelsson | Jouko Ahola | Joe Onosai | 14 August 1999 |
| Iceland Viking of the North | Hugo Girard | Magnus Samuelsson | Janne Virtanen | 17 October 1999 |
| Nordic Strongman Championships | Matti Uppa | | | |

### 2000

| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Helsinki, Finland Finland Grand Prix | Janne Virtanen | Magnus Samuelsson | Svend Karlsen | 18 March 2000 |
| Ireland Ireland Grand Prix | Magnus Samuelsson | Janne Virtanen | Svend Karlsen | 30 April 2000 |
| Sopot, Poland Poland Grand Prix | Magnus Samuelsson | Janne Virtanen | Jarek Dymek | 25 June 2000 |
| Faroe Islands Atlantic Giant | Regin Vagadal | Janne Virtanen | Magnus Samuelsson | 2 September 2000 |
| Prague, Czech Republic Czech Grand Prix | Jan Bartl | Svend Karlsen | Martin Muhr | 2 September 2000 |
| Bucharest, Romania Romania Grand Prix | Magnus Samuelsson | Janne Virtanen | Rene Minkwitz | 16 September 2000 |
| Panyu, China China Grand Prix | Magnus Samuelsson | Hugo Girard | Janne Virtanen | 8 October 2000 |

### 2001

| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Sopot, Poland Poland Grand Prix | Jarek Dymek | Janne Virtanen | Svend Karlsen | 10 March 2007 |
| Faroe Islands Atlantic Giant | Regin Vágadal | Janne Virtanen | Jarek Dymek | 28 July 2007 |
| Kokkola, Finland Strongman World Record Breakers | Svend Karlsen | Wout Zijlstra | Rene Minkwitz | 26 August 2007 |

### 2002

| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Szczyrk, Poland Winter Cup International | Janne Virtanen | Jarek Dymek | Hugo Girard | 9 February 2002 |
| Vantaa, Finland Finland Grand Prix | Janne Virtanen | Svend Karlsen | Juha-Matti Räsänen | 20 April 2002 |
| Istanbul, Turkey Turkey Grand Prix | Janne Virtanen | Wout Zijlstra | Bernd Kerschbaumer | 18 May 2002 |
| Mariehamn, Finland Åland Grand Prix | Jorma Paananen | Rene Minkwitz | Harri Simonen | 10 August 2002 |
| Imatra, Finland Nordic Championships | Juha-Matti Räsänen | Rene Minkwitz | Anders Johansson | 17 August 2002 |
| Panyu, China China Grand Prix | Svend Karlsen | Juha-Matti Räsänen | Žydrūnas Savickas | 20 October 2002 |

### 2003

| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Inowrocław, Poland Poland Grand Prix | Jarek Dymek | Robert Szczepański | Raimonds Bergmanis | 12 April 2003 |
| Vantaa, Finland Finland Grand Prix | Janne Virtanen | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Juha-Matti Räsänen | 17 May 2003 |
| Winnipeg, Canada All Strength Challenge | Eddy Ellwood | Andrus Murumets | Peter Baltus | 15 June 2003 |
| Ylitornio, Finland Ylitornio Challenge | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Janne Virtanen | Vidas Blekaitis | 28 June 2003 |
| Gdynia, Poland Strongman World Record Breakers | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Jarek Dymek | Magnus Samuelsson | 24 August 2003 |
| Sopron, Hungary Hungarian Strongman Challenge | Ervin Katona | Ádám Darázs | Tomi Lotta | 15 November 2003 |

### 2004

| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Jūrmala, Latvia Baltic Strongest Man | Raimonds Bergmanis | Žydrūnas Savickas | Vilius Petrauskas | 22 May 2004 |
| Turkey Turkey Champions Trophy | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Tomi Lotta | Svend Karlsen | 22 May 2004 |
| Doetinchem, Netherlands Holland Champions Trophy | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Svend Karlsen | Žydrūnas Savickas | 13 June 2004 |
| Ukraine Ukraine Grand Prix | Vasyl Virastyuk | Magnus Samuelsson | Žydrūnas Savickas | 20 June 2004 |
| Šiauliai, Lithuania CEKOL Cup | Žydrūnas Savickas | Vasyl Virastyuk | Tomasz Nowotniak | 3 July 2004 |
| Riga, Latvia All Strength Challenge | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Raimonds Bergmanis | Vasyl Virastyuk | 18 July 2004 |
| Szeged, Hungary International Gold | Ervin Katona | Saulius Brusokas | Ettiene Smit | 11 September 2004 |

### 2005

Beginning in 2005, IFSA cut all ties with World's Strongest Man and Strongman Super Series and began hosting their own grand prix events and world championships from 2005 to 2007.
| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Szeged, Hungary Hungary Grand Prix | Žydrūnas Savickas | Rene Minkwitz | Ettiene Smit | 1 May 2005 |
| Dubai, United Arab Emirates Dubai Grand Prix | Tomi Lotta | Robert Szczepański | Andrus Murumets | 19 May 2005 |
| Moscow, Russia Russia Grand Prix | Žydrūnas Savickas | Raimonds Bergmanis | Mikhail Koklyaev | 6 June 2005 |
| Doetinchem, Netherlands Holland Grand Prix | Tomi Lotta | Jarno Hams | Rene Minkwitz | 12 June 2005 |
| Hungary West European Championships | Jarno Hams | Ádám Darázs | Jan Křeháček | 25 June 2005 |
| Riga, Latvia European Championships | Žydrūnas Savickas | Tomi Lotta | Andrus Murumets | 17 July 2005 |
| Kristiansand, Norway Nordic Championships | Svend Karlsen | Magnus Samuelsson | Juha-Matti Räsänen | 6 August 2005 |
| São Paulo, Brazil World Open | Mikhail Koklyaev | Svend Karlsen | Robert Szczepański | 20 August 2005 |
| São Paulo, Brazil Pan American Championships | Phil Pfister | Travis Ortmayer | Karl Gillingham | 21 August 2005 |
| Šiauliai, Lithuania CEKOL Cup | Žydrūnas Savickas | Vilius Petrauskas | Andrus Murumets | 27 August 2005 |
| Denmark Denmark Grand Prix | Rene Minkwitz | Van Hatfield | Juha-Pekka Aitala | 20 November 2005 |

### 2006

| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Kyiv, Ukraine Ukrainian Open | Žydrūnas Savickas | Rene Minkwitz | Ettiene Smit | 18 April 2006 |
| Dubai, United Arab Emirates Dubai Grand Prix | Žydrūnas Savickas | Geoff Dolan | Andrus Murumets | 24 April 2006 |
| Moscow, Russia Russia Grand Prix | Mikhail Koklyaev | Andrus Murumets | Žydrūnas Savickas | 14 May 2006 |
| Tulsa, Oklahoma World Strongman Challenge | Žydrūnas Savickas | Derek Poundstone | Jon Andersen | 21 May 2006 |
| Salou, Spain Spain Grand Prix | Juha-Pekka Aitala | Simon Sulaiman | Jarno Hams | 5 June 2006 |
| Eger, Hungary Hungary Grand Prix | Mikhail Koklyaev | Vasyl Virastyuk | Travis Ortmayer | 5 June 2006 |
| Terborg, Netherlands Holland Grand Prix | Žydrūnas Savickas | Jon Andersen | Jarno Hams | 10 June 2006 |
| Riga, Latvia Latvia World Cup | Žydrūnas Savickas | Raimonds Bergmanis | Mikhail Koklyaev | 18 July 2006 |
| Tornio, Finland Finland Grand Prix | Andrus Murumets | Robert Szczepanski | Steve MacDonald | 5 August 2006 |
| Kyiv, Ukraine Ukraine Grand Prix | Vasyl Virastyuk | Vidas Blekaitis | Oleksandr Pekanov | 29 December 2006 |

#### United Strongman Series

| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Kyiv, Ukraine USS Kyiv | Sebastian Wenta | Igor Pedan | Viktor Yurchenko | 18 April 2006 |
| Limassol, Cyprus USS Cyprus | Travis Ortmayer | Igor Pedan | Raimonds Bergmanis | 28 May 2006 |
| Belgrade, Serbia USS Belgrade | Ervin Katona | Geoff Dolan | Sebastian Wenta | 20 June 2006 |
| Moscow, Russia USS Moscow | Sebastian Wenta | Igor Pedan | Ervin Katona | 1 July 2006 |
| Marijampolė, Lithuania USS Lithuania | Žydrūnas Savickas | Vidas Blekaitis | Igor Pedan | 19 August 2006 |

### 2007

| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Riga, Latvia Latvia Grand Prix | Andrus Murumets | Vasyl Virastyuk | Vidas Blekaitis | 17 March 2007 |
| Ulft, Netherlands Holland Grand Prix | Jarno Hams | Ettiene Smit | Georg Ögmundsson | 17 June 2007 |
| Sofia, Bulgaria Bulgaria Grand Prix | Robert Szczepanski | Janne Illikainen | Ervin Katona | 23 June 2007 |
| Kyiv, Ukraine European Championships | Vasyl Virastyuk | Andrus Murumets | Vidas Blekaitis | 22 July 2007 |
| Klaipėda, Lithuania Lithuania Grand Prix | Žydrūnas Savickas | Andrus Murumets | Janne Illikainen | 28 July 2007 |
| Oulu, Finland Finland Grand Prix | Andrus Murumets | Janne Illikainen | Robert Szczepanski | 2 September 2007 |

## Strongman Champions League

Developed by Ilkka Kinnunen and Marcel Mostert, the Strongman Champions League was launched in 2008 as "a new episode in strongman". It negotiated with IFSA to use its athletes. Since the end of 2008, the Strongman Champions League still operates independently after the dissolution of IFSA:

### 2008

| Name and Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Riga, Latvia SCL Latvia | Žydrūnas Savickas | Travis Ortmayer | Agris Kazelniks | 22 March 2008 |
| Subotica, Serbia SCL Serbia | Žydrūnas Savickas | Ervin Katona | Andrus Murumets | 10 May 2008 |
| Varsseveld, Netherlands SCL Holland | Žydrūnas Savickas | Andrus Murumets | Travis Ortmayer | 1 June 2008 |
| Sofia, Bulgaria SCL Bulgaria | Andrus Murumets | Žydrūnas Savickas | Ervin Katona | 21 June 2008 |
| Vilnius, Lithuania SCL Lithuania | Žydrūnas Savickas | Vidas Blekaitis | Saulius Brusokas | 2 August 2008 |
| Constanța, Romania SCL Romania | Žydrūnas Savickas | Ervin Katona | Oleksandr Lashyn | 16 August 2008 |
| Kokkola, Finland SCL Finland | Mikhail Koklyaev | Žydrūnas Savickas | Ervin Katona | 29 August 2008 |
| Overall placings | Žydrūnas Savickas 130 points | Ervin Katona 72 points | Agris Kazelniks 60 points | |
Events were planned in the following locations but cancelled: Dubai, Germany and Hungary

## UK Regional Competitions
### British Championships (IFSA)

| Year | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place |
| 2005 | Mark Felix | Oli Thompson | Andrew Raynes |

### UK Championship (IFSA)

| Year | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place |
| 1997 | Stuart Murray | Steve Brooks | Russ Bradley |
| 1999 | Glenn Ross | TBC | TBC |

#### IFSA England's Strongest Man

| Year | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place |
| 2005 | Eddy Ellwood | Mark Felix | Oli Thompson |