World's Strongest Man Marathon

[Kyle]

ESPN Classic; This Saturday (Nov. 11) @ 1 p.m. EST

[Kevin McNease]

Yeah Im pretty pumped. Will be done training by noon to see it all. This will most definately be the highlight of my Saturday. Unless I DONT get staph infection, then that will be. I hate it here...

Kevin

[Travis Martino]

Where are you?

Yeah Im pretty pumped. Will be done training by noon to see it all. This will most definately be the highlight of my Saturday. Unless I DONT get staph infection, then that will be. I hate it here...

Kevin

[DaneGarreau]

Yep; they are showing some 96 and 97 qualifiers and then the 97 finals. DVDR is set to record as I will be doing my own lifting during that time.

[Kevin McNease]

Travis - I'm in Rolla.

Kevin

[Chris Mathison]

THanks for the heads up. If i dont get staph infection that will also be the highlight of my day.

[chrisklavette]

A very young looking Svend Karlsen is listed as 5'9" on this 1996 episode. The editors probably never even noticed because, I mean hey who is this Svend guy anyways. Who will even notice we got his height wrong.

[ClayEdgin]

I watched all but 30 minutes of the marathon today (hey, I had to log on here you know!). It was cool to watch some guys compete I had never heard of and also to see guys compete who I hear a lot of such as Kiru and Ahola. What sucked is that they would show two lifters competing then go back to commercials. Very frustrating. I finally had to start switching back and forth to the UFC marathon on Spike TV.

[Kyle]

Yeah, the commercials were pretty frequent and some of the events were painfully boring (i.e. tire throw and hang for time). It was cool to see Ahola compete for the first time, and to see how the sport has progressed in terms of events and the levels of strength among the competitors.

[chrisklavette]

I sure do miss the keg toss.

[james rude]

250 farmer's walks in 1997 looked harder than 350lb ones do now.

[nathan fitzgerald]

250 farmer's walks in 1997 looked harder than 350lb ones do now.

How about those 238 farmer's. Strongman has come a long way!

[Kyle]

250 farmer's walks in 1997 looked harder than 350lb ones do now.


Yeah, that and people struggling with low 300's logs in the same competition.

[Elliot_Storey]

I only saw a little bit because my girlfriend said she was recording it on an 8-hour tape. Turns out the tape was only 2 hours and 40 minutes because it was recording at the highest quality. Oh well.

[Kevin McNease]

That was such a long competition. I was getting confused between International, World, US championships. I still dont know how many heats there were.

Svend is such a badass.

Kevin

[chrisklavette]

250 farmer's walks in 1997 looked harder than 350lb ones do now.
You've got middle weights doing that now-a-days. Another one was the medley of 300lb kegs.

Since we all just witnessed strongman from the past I pose the question, how would some of the memorable strongmen of the past compare to the big names of today?

[Kevin Klavetter]

I would say just fine. The athletes themselves haven't really changed it is more towards the modern training techniques and better nutrition. Just like NFL players, those in the past (Jim Brown, Jack Lambert, ect.) would still be hall of famers they would just have to train year round now, like the current players.

[Elliot_Storey]

You've got middle weights doing that now-a-days. Another one was the medley of 300lb kegs.

Since we all just witnessed strongman from the past I pose the question, how would some of the memorable strongmen of the past compare to the big names of today?

Strongman is hard because the lifts are not conventional. Athletes these days practice so much with the implements, that they become familiar to the point the most movements become natural. So I guess to answer your question, strongmen of old wouldn't fare too well these days, just the same that athletes today wouldn't do well if they have more familiarity with the events. Kazmaier may be the one man above this rule, and look how far back he competed.