# World Strongman Federation

The "World Strongman" International Union of associations and clubs (old name World Strongman Federation - "WSF") ("WSM") is a worldwide organization within strength athletics, founded by Vlad Redkin, a prominent figure in the history of the International Federation of Strength Athletes and World Strongman Cup Federation. The WSF has organised a number of grand prix events and national championships featuring some of the world's leading strength athletes including 5 time World's Strongest Man winner Mariusz Pudzianowski, Brian Shaw, Mikhail Koklyaev, Krzysztof Radzikowski, Tarmo Mitt, Kevin Nee, Stefan Solvi Petursson, Laurence Shahlaei and Mark Felix. The WSF's flagship programme is the WSF World Cup.

## History

The WSF was set up in 2003 by Vlad Redkin following a financial dispute with the World Strongman Cup Federation. Following Vlad's departure, the WSCF ceased to promote events and effectively disappeared from the strength athletics landscape. In September 2007 an event in Khanty-Mansijsk formerly affiliated to WSCF and featuring its athletes was promoted by Vlad Redkin. This event had its name changed at short notice from WSCF to the Grand Prix of Khanty-Mansijsk (Russia) and in effect was the first WSF event. The reason given after the competition by Redkin was that a combination of financial reasons as well as concerns over WSCF's stated aim of forming closer ties with the International Federation of Strength Athletes led him to part company with WSCF. He initially planned to cooperate closely with Strongman Super Series in 2008, but in fact set up a new federation called the World Strongman Federation.
In 2008 the WSF organised a World Cup, it featured Mariusz Pudzianowski amongst others. However, the inaugural season failed to attract as many top tier names as planned and the WSF World Cup season was reduced in scale. By the end of 2008 the new federation was organising one off grand prix events largely based in the countries of the former Soviet Union, featuring fields of athletes confined to those countries.
In 2011 the WSF began to exert its presence globally once more and a WSF Asian World Cup event was organised, with Tarmo Mitt winning the event and also featuring the comeback event for Kevin Nee who finished third.
In August 2011 Redkin stated that WSF had an agreement between 8 countries in that time and more were being approached in order to once again stage a WSF World Cup. This materialised and in August 2011 the 2011/12 World Cup was begun.
In August 2022 by the decision of the ExCo WSF organization has been rebranded to the "World Strongman" International Union of associations and clubs.
In September 2023, Mr. Vladimir Burdun (UAE) was legally elected by ExCo President of the International Union "World Strongman"

## World Cup
### 2008

| Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| WSF World Cup Irkutsk Irkutsk, Russia | Mariusz Pudzianowski | Elbrus Nigmatullin | Stojan Todorchev | Feb. 22, 2008 |
| Irkutsk Russian Strongman Cup Irkutsk, Russia | Elbrus Nigmatullin | Dmitry Kononets | Michael Sidorychev | July 27, 2008 |

### 2010

| Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| WSF BelAZ Strongman Cup Zhodzina, Belarus | Tarmo Mitt | Atanas Abrutus | Alexander Lapirov | Sept. 24, 2010 |

### 2011
#### World Cup

| Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| WSF Asian World Cup Uzbekistan | Tarmo Mitt | Alexander Lapirov | Kevin Nee | March 26, 2011 |
| WSF World Cup stage I Riga, Latvia | Atanas Abrutus | Tarmo Mitt | Jarno Jokinen | Aug. 20, 2011 |
| WSF World Cup stage II Batumi, Georgia | Zviad Kajaia | Nikolai Hansen | Konstantine Janashia | Sept. 4, 2011 |
| WSF World Cup stage III Minsk, Belarus | Tarmo Mitt | Atanas Abrutus | Oleksandr Lashyn | Sept. 10, 2011 |
| WSF BelAZ Strongman Cup Zhodzina, Belarus | Tarmo Mitt | Atanas Abrutus | Alexander Lapirov | Sept. 24, 2011 |

#### World Team Cup

| Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| WSF World Team Cup: Stage I | Ukraine Oleksandr Lashyn Sergey Konyushok | Estonia Meelis Pungits Peil | Ukraine Stahursky Tishecky | July 2, 2011 |
| WSF World Team Cup: Stage II | Estonia Tarmo Mitt Evgeny Shcherbakov | Belarus Sergy Vachinshky Alexander Lapirov | Uzbekistan Sergey Trubitsin Hamza Primov | July 9, 2011 |

#### Other competitions

| Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Ukraine's Strongest Man 2011 Kiev, Ukraine | Oleksandr Lashyn | Victor Yurchenko | Oleksander Pekanov | October 14, 2011 |
| Hungary's Strongest Man 2011 Pusztaottlaka, Hungary | Zolt Szabó | Ákos Nagy | István Sárai | October 15, 2011 |

### 2012
#### World Cup

| Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| WSF World Cup stage IV Tashkent, Uzbekistan | Krzysztof Radzikowski | Sergey Trubitsin | Mark Felix | March 30, 2012 |
| WSF World Cup stage V Hoofddorp, Netherlands | Richard van der Linden | Sebastian Davidsson | Konstantinie Janashia | June 10, 2012 |
| WSF World Cup stage VI Lviv, Ukraine | Oleksandr Lashyn | Viktor Yurchenko | Ari Gunarsson | July 14, 2012 |
| WSF World Cup stage VII Lahti, Finland | Nikolai Hansen | Antanas Abrutus | Jarno Jokinen | Sept. 9, 2012 |
| WSF World Cup stage VIII Denizli, Turkey | Rolands Gulbis | Bartalomei Bak | Tarmo Mitt | Oct. 16, 2012 |

#### Other competitions

| Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Brazilian Strongman Open Championships Brazil | Eduardo Visciglia | Rodrigo Gigante | Rafael Crestani | Feb. 26, 2012 |
| Azerbaijan Strongmen Championships Baku, Azerbaijan | Vusal Mardanov | Mehman Faradzov | Hazrjad Magammedov | March 4, 2012 |
| Russian Strongman Championships Krasnoyarsk, Russia | Alexej Zolotuhin | Vladimir Kalinichenko | Alexander Lysenko | April 4, 2012 |
| WSF Russian Strongman Cup Vologda, Russia | Alexander Lapirov | Pavel Sprutsko | Denis Naigibin | June 30, 2012 |
| Elite Strongman: Moscow Moscow, Russia | Krzysztof Radzikowski | Stojan Todorchev | Mikhail Koklyaev | Aug. 1, 2012 |

#### World Team Cup/Team Championships

| Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| WSF CIS/Baltic Team Championships | Team Russia Elbrus Nigmatullin Vladimir Muravlov | Team Ukraine Oleksandr Lashyn Ivanov | Baltic Team Tarmo Mitt Antanas Abrutis | June 30, 2012 |

### 2013
#### World Cup

| Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| WSF World Cup Stage I Tashkent, Uzbekistan | Sergey Trubitsin | Rafal Kobylarz | Oleksandr Lashyn | April 14, 2013 |
| WSF World Cup Stage II Aktau, Kazakhstan | | | | April TBA, 2013 |
| WSF World Cup Stage III Hungary | | | | May TBA, 2013 |
| WSF World Cup Stage IV Russia | | | | May TBA, 2013 |
| WSF World Cup Stage V Netherlands | | | | June TBA, 2013 |
| WSF World Cup Stage VI WSF European Championships | | | | June TBA, 2013 |
| WFS World Cup Stage VII Portugal | | | | July TBA, 2013 |
| WSF World Cup Stage VIII Ukraine | | | | Aug. TBA, 2013 |
| WSF World Cup Stage IX Turkey | | | | Sept. TBA, 2013 |
| WSF World Cup Stage X Russia | | | | Oct. TBA, 2013 |
| WSF World Cup Finals WSF World Championships United Arab Emirates | | | | Dec. TBA, 2013 |

#### World Team Cup

| Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| WSF World Team Cup Poland VS. USA Poland | | | | Aug. TBA, 2013 |

#### Other competitions

| Location | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | Date |
| Elite Strongman: Moscow Moscow, Russia | | | | July TBA, 2013 |

## WSF World Strongmen Championships
### 2012

The first ever WSF World Strongmen Championship was held February 12–14, 2012 in Abu Dhabi under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan. The contest consisted of 25 athletes, after day 1 the field was cut down to 15 athletes, and down to 8 athletes after day 2. The scores were reset to zero after each day of competition, and the finals were held on Feb. 14, 2012.

#### Athletes

* Tarmo Mitt (Estonia)
* Mark Felix (UK)
* Laurence Shahlaei (UK)
* Josh Thigpen (USA)
* Richard van der Linden (Netherlands)
* Nikolai Hansen (Denmark)
* Elbrus Nigmatullin (Russia)
* Antanas Abrutis (Lithuania)
* Oleksandr Lashyn (Ukraina)
* Aleksandr Lapyrov (Belarus)
* Kevin Nee (USA)
* Juanjo Diaz Garcia (Spain)
* Sergey Trubitsin (Uzbekistan)
* Rolands Gulbis (Latvia)
* Krzysztof Radzikowski (Poland)
* Vusal Mardanov (Azerbaijan)
* Adam Darasz (Hungary)
* Vladimir Rizov (Bulgaria)
* Stefan Solvi Petursson (Iceland)
* Farzad Mousakhani (Iran)
* Mika Jaakola (Finland)
* Alexander Mantserov (Russia)
* Marc Wells (Australia)
* Gregor Stegnar (Slovenia)
* Ricardo Nortt (Brazil)

#### Day 1 results

Date: 12 February 2012 Dubai, UAE
| Position | Name | Points |
| 1 | Krzysztof Radzikowski | 96 |
| 2 | Farzad Mousakhani | 94 |
| 3 | Laurence Shahlaei | 84 |
| 4 | Elbrus Nigmatulin | 83 |
| 5 | Alexander Mantserov | 82 |
| 6 | Oleksander Lashyn | 81 |
| 7 | Josh Thigpen | 79 |
| 8 | Mark Felix | 76 |
| 9 | Nikolai Hansen | 75 |
| 9 | Stefan Solvi Petursson | 75 |
| 11 | Tarmo Mitt | 73 |
| 11 | Vladimir Rizov | 73 |
| 13 | Antanas Abrutis | 71 |
| 14 | Rolands Gulbis | 66 |
| 15 | Kevin Nee | 65 |

#### Day 2 results

Date: 13 February 2012 Dubai, UAE
| Position | Name | Points |
| 1 | Josh Thigpen | 52.5 |
| 2 | Stefan Solvi Petursson | 51.5 |
| 3 | Laurence Shahlaei | 47.5 |
| 4 | Krzysztof Radzikowski | 47 |
| 5 | Mark Felix | 45 |
| 6 | Farzad Mousakhani | 42.5 |
| 7 | Nikolai Hansen | 42.5 |
| 8 | Antanas Abrutis | 38 |

#### Day 3/Final placings

Date: 14 February 2012 Dubai, UAE
| Position | Name | Points |
| 1 | Krzysztof Radzikowski | 35 |
| 2 | Laurence Shahlaei | 33 |
| 3 | Josh Thigpen | 27 |
| 4 | Stefan Solvi Petursson | 22 |
| 5 | Nikolai Hansen | 18 |
| 6 | Kevin Nee | 15 |
| 7 | Mark Felix | 12 |
| 8 | Antanas Abrutis | 0 |

### 2013

The 2013 WSF World Championships are scheduled to be held in December, and will also be the finals for the 2013 WSF World Cup. The contest is scheduled to take place in the United Arab Emirates.

## Grand Prix of Khanty-Mansijsk

Originally, another event in Khanty-Mansijsk in September 2007 was affiliated to WSMC and featured its athletes. However, the promoter of the event, Vlad Redkin, changed the name from WSMC to the Grand Prix of Khanty-Mansijsk (Russia). The reason given was that after the competition Redkin was parting company with WSMC due to his concerns over WSMC wanting closer ties with the International Federation of Strength Athletes. He also cited that he had lost money with WSMC. He initially planned to cooperate closely with the World Strongman Super Series in 2008, but in fact set up a new federation called the World Strongman Federation.
Date: 8 September 2007
| Position | Name | Points |
| 1. | Stojan Todorchev | 49 |
| 2. | Tarmo Mitt | 47,5 |
| 3. | Elbrus Nigmatullin | 42 |
| 4. | Raivis Vidzis | 36,5 |
| 5. | René Minkwitz | 33 |
| 6. | Brian Shaw | 30,5 |
| 7. | Christian Savoie | 24 |
| 8. | Glenn Ross | 20 |
| 9. | Mojtaba Maleki | 17 |
| 10. | Karim Taleshi | 17 |
| 11. | Igor Torlak | 9,5 |

### 2015

The new President of WSF Pradeep Baba Madhok quotes “Our distinct target audience, apart from strength enthusiasts, that we aim to give utmost priority to is children and the youth, making them well informed on the importance of nutrition and fitness at a very young age. WSF solely stands by the principal of strength and with that in mind, we hope to inspire the forthcoming generations to reach their dreams.”

### 2024

Dubai World Strongman Championship