# 1997 World's Strongest Man

The 1997 World's Strongest Man was the 20th edition of World's Strongest Man and was won by Jouko Ahola from Finland. It was his first title. Flemming Rasmussen from Denmark finished second after finishing fourth the previous year, and Magnus Samuelsson from Sweden finished third. Three time defending champion Magnus Ver Magnusson, chasing a fourth straight title and record fifth overall, was eliminated in the qualifying heats. The contest was held in Primm Valley Resort, Nevada.

## Heats
### Group 1

| Position | Name | Nationality | Points |
| 1. | Svend Karlsen | Norway | 21 |
| 2. | Torfi Ólafsson | Iceland | 16 |
| 3. | Magnús Ver Magnússon | Iceland | 15 |
| 4. | Regin Vagadal | Faroe Islands | 13.5 |
| 5. | Joe Onosai | Samoa | 11 |
| 6. | Brian Bell | Scotland | 7.5 |

### Group 2

| Position | Name | Nationality | Points |
| 1. | Raimonds Bergmanis | Latvia | 18.5 |
| 2. | Derek Boyer | Fiji | 17.5 |
| 3. | Riku Kiri | Finland | 17.5 |
| 4. | Russ Bradley | England | 16 |
| 5. | Evgeny Popov | Bulgaria | 10.5 |
| 6. | Jean-Luc Moalli | France | 4 |

### Group 3

| Position | Name | Nationality | Points |
| 1. | Magnus Samuelsson | Sweden | 20 |
| 2. | Heinz Ollesch | Germany | 19 |
| 3. | Gerrit Badenhorst | South Africa | 16 |
| 4. | Berend Veneberg | Netherlands | 10 (injured) |
| 4. | Paul Lepik | Estonia | 10 |
| 6. | Ginaud Dupuis | Canada | 8 |

### Group 4

| Position | Name | Nationality | Points |
| 1. | Flemming Rasmussen | Denmark | 20 |
| 2. | Jouko Ahola | Finland | 18 |
| 3. | Robert Weir | England | 16 |
| 4. | Bill Lyndon | Australia | 15 |
| 5. | Michael Abdullah | Japan* | 9 |
| 6. | Bernard Rolle | Bahamas | 6 |
* Michael Abdullah comes from Lebanon, but he represents Japan at the World's Strongest Man Championship.

### Group USA

| Position | Name | Nationality | Points |
| 1. | Mark Philippi | United States | 108 |
| 2. | Harold "Iron Bear" Collins | United States | 85.5 |
| 3. | Tommy Ingalsbe | United States | 83.5 |
| 4. | Ken Brown | United States | 79.5 |
| 4. | Phil Martin | United States | 79.5 |
| 6. | Kevin Toth | United States | 68 |
| 7. | James Voronin | United States | 64.5 |
| 8. | Gary Mitchell | United States | 46.5 (Injured) |
* The USA Group was actually the inaugural America's Strongest Man contest and took place at the Primm Valley Resort several weeks before the other qualifying heats.

## Final results

| # | Name | Nationality | Truck Pull | Log Lift | Car Roll | Husafell Stone | Squat | Keg Loading | Dead Lift | Final Race | Pts |
| 1 | Jouko Ahola | Finland | 6 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 6 | 61 |
| 2 | Flemming Rasmussen | Denmark | 10 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 57 |
| 3 | Magnus Samuelsson | Sweden | 9 | 1.5 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 10 | 52.5 |
| 4 | Torfi Ólafsson | Iceland | 5 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 4.5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 45.5 |
| 5 | Raimonds Bergmanis | Latvia | 4 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 4.5 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 44.5 |
| 6 | Heinz Ollesch | Germany | 7 | 6.5 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 43.5 |
| 7 | Mark Philippi | United States | 1 | 6.5 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 5 | 40.5 |
| 8 | Svend Karlsen | Norway | 8 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 33 |
| 9 | Derek Boyer | Fiji | 3 | 1.5 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 28.5 |
| 10 | Harold "Iron Bear" Collins | United States | 2 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 28 |