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LAURENCE’S WORLD STRONGEST MAN DIARY 2009

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23rd September 2009
Today I fly to Malta for this years WSM. My girlfriend and baby girl drop me at Heathrow and I meet up with some of the American athletes and Jimmy Marku from the UK.

Due to a mistake at the hotel, Jimmy, myself and Johannes Arjso from Sweden have to stay at an alternative hotel for our first night so we are taken to the Intercontinental hotel in the centre of Valetta and spend the afternoon walking around the town followed by an early night.

24th September 2009
Today we are taken to the Grand Excelsior Hotel which will be our home for the next two weeks. As always, the morning after we arrive we have an athletes meeting. The Referees, Doctors, and organisers go through a few things with us and we receive the rules and our schedules. The schedule is essential as it contains the timings for our medicals, Interviews and TV work, and our familiarisation with the equipment.

First up for me was my Interview. I get asked questions about my training and my chances, and then do a number of shots for TV. Next up is my medical – we get tested and go through any existing niggles and injuries we may have. The doctor and physios check us over and run through any treatment options we may have.

Last up today is familiarisation. This is where we get to test out our equipment and get measured up for events such as the squat where the bar needs to be adjusted.

Each group gets one hour in the yard for testing. I always find everything heavy in the yard and was a little worried about the Car Walk, but most things felt ok. Everyone tries to make things look easy but I know it only matters what we do in competition.

25th September 2009
A quiet day for me today. I go for a walk and then spend time by the pool relaxing and have an early night.

26th September
Today is the first day of the qualifiers. I’m in group four. It’s a tough group with no weak guys but also none of the top three seeds. Travis Ortmayer on paper is the favourite, with most people thinking Richard Skog and Johannes Arjso will be fighting for the second qualifying spot. We also have Agris Kaselniks who is a monster of a man who has been doing well in the Champions league and Etienne Schmit who has performed well in a lot of Internationals this year.

I know for me to qualify I will have to be at my best on my good events as the last two events of the heat are not so good for me. Today we have two events. First up is the Medley. I am feel positive but nervous. I need to focus on my lane and not look at what people are doing alongside me.

The Medley was run 3 athletes at a time and I was up against Etienne and Agris. We line up at the start and the ref gives us the whistle. This was a fast paced event and I just went for it – pulling the anchor and chain as fast as I could then loading the barrels as quickly as possible. I look across and see that I have won my heat – but I still have to wait for the other three to go to find out my final placing and these are the big three. Amazingly only Johannes managed to beat me so I finish the first event in second place.

The second event today is the Truck Pull. I dislocated my toe doing this event at last years WSM but I have been training this event hard this year and so I am confident I can do well. It was a heavy truck and a tough pull but I really dug deep and managed the fastest time of the group.

Day one was over and I was in first place. I have two good events to come tomorrow and so am looking forward to it.

27th September 2009
Day two of the qualifiers. I know I need a big day today.

First up is the squat. I felt I had a good chance as I won the squat last year – however, this year they had upped the weight so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Group one went before us and when none of them managed to do all 7 lifts I knew it must be heavy as a number of competitors in that group are very good squatters.

Luckily for me I got to go last on this. Two of the other athletes in my group managed 6 reps so my aim was to get 6 as fast as I could. However, because of the extra weight I wasn’t as fast as I would have liked so after my 6th rep I wasn’t sure I had the fastest time. I decided to go for the 7th lift. I went down fast and very slowly managed to come up and complete the rep – this made me the only athlete to complete all 7 lifts at this years WSM. This was a big win for me and gave me a good lead in my heat.

The 4th event of the heats was the car walk. Again, a heavy event combined with a longer distance than last year. Unfortunately I had to go out first on this event. The car felt really heavy in the yard but I was still on a high after the first event and knew that this event would suit me. I told myself to just make sure I finish the distance and not worry too much about the speed because it is easy to make a mistake if you go too fast. I picked the car up and got into a good rhythm. Halfway down the course I felt I could pick up the speed a bit and finished the 25 metres in a good time – although a time I felt was beatable.

One by one I watched each of my competitors fail to beat by time and I ended up taking my third win of the contest. Amazingly, after 4 events I had qualified for my first WSM final and could enjoy the final two days of qualifying heats with no pressure.

28th September 2009
Due to some changes to the schedule our group did not have any events today so I went to watch and support the other Brits and had a relaxing day.

29th September 2009
Today was the last day of the qualifiers and luckily for me I had already qualified for the final which was just as well as the events today weren’t my favourite. However, the qualifying in the group was still exciting with a big battle for second place going on. Event 5 was the keg toss. This year the kegs were heavier than last year and there were 8 kegs in total. Agris Kazelniks went first and got 4 kegs over, then I followed with three. The next four were all good at this event and took the top four places. This meant it was going to be close between Travis, Johannes, Skog and Etienne for 2nd place in the group.

The final event was the traditional strongman event of the Atlas Stones. Etienne only managed 3 stones in a slow time, Johannes did all and needed to finish within one place of Travis to qualify. The last pairing of Travis and Skog was a fast one. The Texas Stoneman Travis Ortmayer lived up to his name and won the event. Skog beat Johannes which meant that Travis secured the second qualifying spot and a place in his 2nd WSM final.

30th September 2009
Today the finalists were all put through more medicals and familiarisation for the events in the final. No-one really puts in a lot of effort at this session as everyone wants to keep any surprises for the final! We also do some group photos and interviews for various reporters.

The best thing about today is that my girlfriend, baby daughter and brother are flying out to support me in the final so I spent some time with them before another early night.

1st October 2009
Today is the first day of the final. On the bus down to the first event I’m looking around and thinking how amazing it is to be in the final of WSM against the best guys in the world. Some of these are guys I have watched for years. But at the same time the competitor in me comes out and tells me to shut the hell up and get focused. I put my Ipod on and get my head in the zone.

Event one was due to be the farmers walk but is changed to the Finals Fingers to save time setting up as the crew are on a tight schedule today. Later is the plane pull at Malta airport and we have only a very short about of time allocated at the airport before the plane is in use!

Fingers is a big man event and this showed in the results. I’m in the second heat out and up against big Dave Ostlund (one of the Worlds best at this event). I stayed focused on my lane and tried to do a good time for the four fingers to make sure I beat Louis Phillipe Jeans time. The big guys make this event look so easy but its one of the toughest events. The man a lot of people have been waiting to see is Zydrunas Savickas (Big Z) – he put in a crazyperformance and won the event in a blistering time. Marius Pudzianowski and Derek Poundstone (the other favourites in the final) were down in 5th and 6th place after this event with the top 4 places going to the bigger guys (170kg plus) and all over 6’ 4” tall.

The second event was the Farmers Walk and this year it had gone heavy with 160kg in each hand for 50 metres. This is usually a good event for me and has been going well in training. I was in the first heat and had a very bad start as I wasn’t ready when the referee blew his whistle. However, I didn’t panic and really made up some time with a fast turn. On the way back I felt strong and picked up my speed finishing 2nd out of this heat with Marius taking first place and blowing everyone away.

Only Derek Poundstone beat my time in heat two so I placed 3rd overall on this event against some of the best guys in the world. The final event on day one was the plane pull. A 220 Airbus that was flying out after we’d pulled it – what an amazing event! How many people can say they have pulled a plane? And yet at the time I didn’t even think about it. I pulled hard and it started to move but I was disappointed as my time was only good enough for 9th place. I worked hard at this event in training puling trucks and cars back home but I was training over a 20 metre course and this was 25 metres so I really felt those last 5 metres. The good news though was that Terry Hollands of the UK won this event. Well done buddy.

2nd October 2009
Day two of the final. The first event today was the impressive looking 155kg axle. Overhead events have always been tough for me but I keep making good progress. I was hoping to get 4 reps but on my second clean my hand came away from the bar and I really had to fight to get my hand back In place and so found the second rep very tough. I almost got a third rep but couldn’t quite lock it out. Marius and Derek both put in great performances with 8 reps each but the king of this event was big Z. 9 reps and he could have done ten if he had needed to. Zydrunas was really starting to run away with this competition.

Event 5 really mixed things up. Pulling a boat up a hill arm over arm. This is an event I have made good progress with and I was looking forward to it. I put in a good time but in the end it was only good enough for 7th place. I was happy though as I had beaten both Zydrunas and Poundstone on this event. Marius showed amazing determination – pulling like a mad man and going into first place. This looked good enough to keep the lead in this event but Brian Shaw of the USA was amazing and beat everyone’s time by at least 10 seconds.

After day two of the final Big Z and Marius were in a battle for the title with Shaw and Poundstone battling for third place.

3rd October 2009
The final day. First event today was the Deadlift for reps. This year the deadlift is the heaviset ever at WSM – 350kg for reps. This sport is getting crazy. First up were myself and LPJ. LPJ pulled three reps and I grinded out 6, this was a PB for me. Next were Dave Ostlund and Phil Phister. Dave managed 5 but Phil (a former WSM winner) showed how heavy this event was by not managing a rep. Next out were Terry and Travis. Travis pulled 7 and Terry 8. Brian Shaw also got 8 and the tough American Poundstone got 9 to take the lead. The final pair were Marius and Big Z. Marius showed amazing guts once again as after the 2nd rep he was struggling and hitching but he’s a gutsy competitor and kept going to end up with 9 reps. Big Z showed the World why he is considered the Strongest Man on the planet as he pulled 11 reps and made it look easy. This guy makes me feel weak!

With only the stones left Marius still had a chance but it was looking like Big Z almost had it in the bag.

I was disappointed to be the only athlete not to load all 5 stones and this cost me 8th place by half a point. Still, for this year I am happy with 9th in the World.

The battles in this last event were for 1st and second, and 3rd and 4th places. Brian Shaw has made amazing progress over the last few years and beat Derek Poundstone to take 3rd overall and his first WSM podium finish. The last two to go were Marius and Big Z. Marius looked as if he false started but wasn’t called on it, however, Big Z showed the World that he can move fast and put all five up in a faster time than the Pole.

At the end of a gruelling contest, in most peoples opinion the Strongest WSM ever, Zydrunas Savickas was the man on top of the podium. Zydrunas really is in a league of his own when it comes to raw strength – he only had one weak event and in the really heavy events he was always at the top end. All the athletes fought hard and I was happy with how I did. I managed to beat the winner on two events and I was the lightest and second youngest in the final.

I have lots of things to work on over the winter and I will come back next year better than ever. I know that one day I can win this title and will keep working hard and improving until I do.

Laurence Shahlaei.