Strength athletics in Sweden refers to the participation of Swedish competitors and holding national strongman competitions.
History Sweden has a long and rich history of strength athletics dating back to the mid 1900s in the sport of Olympic weightlifting with Bo Johansson in the 1960s and 1970s, and several top ranked IPF Powerlifters such as Lars Hedlund and Lars Norén during the 1980s. Sweden has been at the top international level in World's Strongest Man since the very beginning in the late 1970s with Lars Hedlund achieving numerous podium finishes. Sweden struggled through the 1980s and early 1990s until the arrival of Magnus Samuelsson in 1995. Samuelsson would go on to win the 1998 World's Strongest Man, Sweden's only WSM title. Magnus continued to win major international contests and be a top podium finisher at WSM until his retirement in 2008. In recent years, Johannes Årsjö has continued to maintain Sweden's top position on the international scene with numerous podium finishes at major international contests.
National competitions Sweden's Strongest Man
Sweden's Strongest Man () is an annual Strongman competition held in Sweden and featuring exclusively Swedish athletes, to determine who the strongest Swede of the year is.
Magnus Samuelsson and Johannes Årsjö have both won the competition 9 times, thus sharing the record for most wins.
Champions breakdown The competition has been held every year since 1995 and has produced ten champions over the years. YearChampionRunner-up3rd place 1995 Magnus Samuelsson Jörgen Ljungberg 1996 Magnus Samuelsson Jorma Paananen Torbjörn Samuelsson 1997 Magnus Samuelsson Jörgen Ljungberg Torbjörn Samuelsson 1998 Torbjörn Samuelsson Jorma Paananen 1999 Magnus Samuelsson Jorma Paananen Torbjörn Samuelsson 2000 Magnus Samuelsson Torbjörn Samuelsson Anders Johansson 2001 Magnus Samuelsson Torbjörn Samuelsson Anders Johansson 2002 Torbjörn Samuelsson Anders Johansson Jorma Paananen 2003 Magnus Samuelsson Jörgen Ljungberg Kalle Lane 2004 Magnus Samuelsson Jörgen Ljungberg Benny Wennberg 2005 Magnus Samuelsson Anders Johansson Robert Brolin 2006 Anders Johansson Björn Andersson Tomas Karlsson 2007 Anders Johansson Stefan Bergqvist Daniel Wiklund 2008 Anders Johansson Peter Rundberg Stefan Bergqvist 2009 Johannes Årsjö Anders Johansson Mikael Hoffner 2010 Johannes Årsjö Stefan Bergqvist Peter Rundberg 2011 Johannes Årsjö Martin Forsmark Stefan Bergqvist 2012 Johannes Årsjö Sebastian Davidsson Martin Forsmark 2013 Johannes Årsjö Sebastian Davidsson David Nyström 2014 Johannes Årsjö Martin Forsmark David Nyström 2015 Johannes Årsjö Martin Forsmark Johnny Hansson 2016 Johannes Årsjö Martin Forsmark Joachim Gustavsson 2017 Johannes Årsjö Martin Forsmark Johnny Hansson 2018 Martin Forsmark Torbjörn Persson Johan Espenkrona 2019 Martin Forsmark Andreas Ståhlberg Johan Espenkrona 2020 Johnny Hansson Martin Forsmark Fredrik Svensson 2021 Marcus Yngvesson Johan Espenkrona Fredrik Svensson 2022 Andreas Ståhlberg Johnny Hansson Joachim Kvick 2023 Fredrik Johansson Marcus Yngvesson Cim Johansson 2024 Fredrik Johansson Cim Johansson Marcus Yngvesson 2025 Cim Johansson Jacob Larsson Harley Andersson
Repeat champions ChampionTimes & years Magnus Samuelsson 9 (1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005) Johannes Årsjö 9 (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) Anders Johansson 3 (2006, 2007, 2008) Torbjörn Samuelsson 2 (1998, 2002) Martin Forsmark 2 (2018, 2019) Fredrik Johansson 2 (2023, 2024)
Regional Competitions Nordic Strongman Championships Nordic Strongman Championships consists of athletes from Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. YearChampionRunner-Up3rd Place2005 Svend Karlsen Magnus Samuelsson Juha-Matti Räsänen2012 Johannes Årsjö Lars Rorbakken Mikkel Leicht 2013 Johannes Årsjö Ole Martin Hansen Juha-Matti Järvi
In 2005, the competition was held under IFSA in Kristiansand, and in 2012 and 2013 in Harstad, Norway under Giants Live. From 2014 onwards, the competition was promoted to global level, re-titled as the World's Strongest Viking and was held consecutively for 8 years under Strongman Champions League.
International Competitions Giants Live Sweden was also the venue for several Giants Live grand prix competitions with the participation of top athletes of the world. The competitions were named Giants Live Sweden/ Scandinavian Open.
YearChampionRunner-Up3rd Place2014 Brian Shaw Johannes Årsjö Martin Forsmark2015 Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson Johannes Årsjö Mark Felix2016 Johannes Årsjö Martin Forsmark Mark Felix2017 Johannes Årsjö Johnny Hansson Žydrūnas Savickas
References