The World Log Lift Championships (sometimes referred to as World Log Lift Challenge) is an annual competition featuring strength athletes from all over the world, competing exclusively in the log clean and press. Created initially as part of the Strongman Champions League, it has since been part of Giants Live and the championship has been present in both series, Giants Live running one version of the championship and the World Log Lift Federation taking over the Strongman Champions League's variant of the championship.
History In its inaugural year 2008, the Strongman Champions League introduced the World Log Lift Championships. The event however had been a staple of strongman competitions since the early 1980s. Beginning with the 1980 World's Strongest Man contest, where Bill Kazmaier hoisted to win the event and set a world record. Kazmaier then increased the record to in 1981 World's Strongest Man. During 1987 Pure Strength, Jón Páll Sigmarsson lifted and Kazmaier regained the record with in 1988 World's Strongest Man. During 1989 Kraftur championships Jamie Reeves took the record up to . During 1992 World Mighty Man in Johannesburg, Manfred Hoeberl surpassed it with until Reeves regained it with on the same competition.
At 2002 Strongman Super Series in Sweden Svend Karlsen increased the record to and at 2003 Strongman Super Series in Canada Hugo Girard took it to . At 2004 IFSA Ukraine Grand Prix, Žydrūnas Savickas set a new record with , and Raimunds Bergmanis brought it up to at 2004 Strongman Super Series in Moscow.
Savickas began his long reign over the log lift world record starting in 2005, bringing it up to at 2005 IFSA Hungary Grand Prix, and then to at 2005 IFSA European Championships in Riga. At 2006 IFSA Russia Grand Prix, Savickas raised it to . In 2008 Savickas broke the record with at 2008 SCL Holland and in 2009 with at World Log Lift Championships. At 2012 Europe's Strongest Man Savickas renewed the record to and then up to at 2012 SCL Holland.
At 2012 World's Strongest Man Savickas brought the world record to making it his tenth consecutive log lift world record. At 2013 Europe's Strongest Man, Savickas lifted for another world record, followed by at 2013 SCL World Log Lift Championships. At 2014 Arnold Brazil Savickas took the record to . 8 days later, at 2014 Giants Live Poland, Savickas took the world record to and his final world record was , set at 2015 Arnold Brazil, marking it his sixteenth time breaking the world record.
At 2021 Giants Live world tour finals Cheick "Iron Biby" Sanou broke Savickas's final world record with , then at 2023 World Log Lift Championships in Glasgow with and again at 2024 World Log Lift Championships in Birmingham, taking the log lift world record to where it stands today.
Variations WSM giant log At 2010 World's Strongest Man, the organizers came up with a more challenging longer log where Savickas established a new world record with .
SCL giant log At 2014 SCL FIBO, Strongman Champions League introduced a log which was thicker than any log which has been used before. Savickas took the record to with this new giant log until it was broken by Krzysztof Radzikowski with at 2015 SCL FIBO, and then by Graham Hicks with at 2017 SCL FIBO.
Champions Year Champion Runner-up Third place Host location 2008 Žydrūnas Savickas Mikhail Koklyaev Oleksandr Lashyn Sebastian Wenta Vilnius, Lithuania 2009 Žydrūnas Savickas Krzysztof Radzikowski Vidas Blekaitis Kaunas, Lithuania 2011 Žydrūnas Savickas Vidas Blekaitis Vytautas Lalas Patrick Baboumian Ervin Katona Vilnius, Lithuania 2012 Žydrūnas Savickas Krzysztof Radzikowski Vytautas Lalas Vidas Blekaitis Mikhail Koklyaev Vilnius, Lithuania 2013 Žydrūnas Savickas Vidas Blekaitis Krzysztof Radzikowski Vilnius, Lithuania 2015 GL Graham Hicks Eddie Hall Žydrūnas Savickas Doncaster, England 2015 WLLF Vidas Blekaitis Krzysztof Radzikowski Dainis Zageris Vilnius, Lithuania 2016 Rob Kearney Vidas Blekaitis Vytautas Lalas Vilnius, Lithuania 2017 Graham Hicks Vidas Blekaitis Vytautas Lalas Vilnius, Lithuania 2018 GL Cheick "Iron Biby" Sanou Eddie Hall Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson Leeds, England 2018 WLLF Žydrūnas Savickas Vidas Blekaitis Dainis Zageris Alytus, Lithuania 2019 GL Cheick "Iron Biby" Sanou Rob Kearney Graham Hicks Mateusz Kieliszkowski Leeds, England 2019 WLLF Rongo Keene Vidas Blekaitis František Piros Jared Leask Panevežys, Lithuania 2021 Luke Stoltman Graham Hicks Oleksii Novikov Leeds, England 2022 GL Cheick "Iron Biby" Sanou Luke Stoltman Bobby Thompson Leeds, England 2022 WLLF Didzis Zariņš Jack Osborn Dennis Kohlruss Jacob Finerty Ipswich, England 2023 Cheick "Iron Biby" Sanou Tom Stoltman Tyler Cotton Mitchell Hooper Pavlo Kordiyaka Luke Stoltman Glasgow, Scotland2023 WLLF Sean Gillen Dennis Biesenbach Tomáš Sikora Southampton, England 2024 Cheick "Iron Biby" Sanou Ondřej Fojtů Mitchell Hooper Birmingham, England 2025 Jack Osborn Ondřej Fojtů Tom Stoltman Glasgow, Scotland
Multiple time champions ChampionCountryTimesYearsŽydrūnas Savickas 7 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015 GL, 2018 WLLFCheick "Iron Biby" Sanou 5 2018 GL, 2019 GL, 2022 GL, 2023, 2024Graham Hicks 3 2015 GL, 2017, 2021Vidas Blekaitis 2 2015 WLLF, 2016Eddie Hall 2 2015 GL, 2018 GLLuke Stoltman 2 2021, 2022 GL
Heaviest Lifts In History (Men) #WeightCompetitorEventWorld record?1 Cheick "Iron Biby" Sanou 2024 World Log Lift Championships () Yes2 Cheick "Iron Biby" Sanou 2023 World Log Lift Championships () Yes3 Cheick "Iron Biby" Sanou 2021 Giants Live World Tour Finals () Yes4 Žydrūnas Savickas 2015 Força Bruta () Yes5 Žydrūnas Savickas 2014 Giants Live Poland () Yes6 Žydrūnas Savickas 2014 Força Bruta () Yes7 Žydrūnas Savickas 2013 World Log Lift Championships () Yes8 Lucas Hatton 2025 Strongest Man on Earth () No9 Jack Osborn 2025 World Log Lift Championships () No10 Žydrūnas Savickas 2013 Europe's Strongest Man () Yes Luke Stoltman 2020 World's Ultimate Strongman FOS () No
In History (Women) #WeightCompetitorEventWorld record?1 Inez Carrasquillo 2023 Rainier Classic Pro/Am () Yes2 Inez Carrasquillo 2023 Rainier Classic Pro/Am () Yes3 Inez Carrasquillo 2024 North America's Strongest Woman () No4 Andrea Thompson 2022 SBD World Log Lift Championships () Yes5 Nadia Stowers2024 The Animal Cage ( United States)No6 Victoria Long 2022 America's Strongest Woman () No7 Andrea Thompson 2020 WUS Feats of Strength Event 10 () Yes8 Inez Carrasquillo 2023 Rainier Classic Pro/Am () No Inez Carrasquillo 2022 America's Strongest Woman () No10 Nadia Stowers 2021 Static Monsters California () Yes (U82 class)
At the Championships #WeightCompetitorYearRecord Set1 Cheick "Iron Biby" Sanou 2024 World Record2 Cheick "Iron Biby" Sanou 2023 World Record3 Žydrūnas Savickas 2013 World Record4 Jack Osborn 2025 British Record5 Cheick "Iron Biby" Sanou 2019 Burkinabé Record Ondřej Fojtů 2025 World Junior Record7 Luke Stoltman 2022 - Cheick "Iron Biby" Sanou -9 Žydrūnas Savickas 2018 (WLLF) -10 Rob Kearney 2019 American Record Graham Hicks English Record Mateusz Kieliszkowski -
Continental records (Men) Region Weight Athlete Nation Year set Africa Cheick "Iron Biby" Sanou 1 Burkina Faso 2024 Europe Žydrūnas Savickas Lithuania 2015 North, Central America and Caribbean Lucas Hatton United States 2025 Asia Matin Alimohammadi Iran 2021 Oceania Rongo Keene Australia 2019 South America Emanuel Mendoza Colombia 2022
1 Cheick Sanou, who is a Canadian citizen, has the heaviest lift for this region at , but is not listed as he has declared for Burkina Faso.
Continental records (Women) Region Weight Athlete Nation Year set North, Central America and Caribbean Inez Carrasquillo Puerto Rico 2023 Europe Andrea Thompson England 2022 Oceania Nicole Genrich Australia 2024 Africa Cherry Muchindu Zambia 2024 South America Fatima Cipriano Brazil 2023 Asia Joyce Gail Reboton Philippines 2018
Event results 2008 Zydrunas Savickas entered the 2008 Log Lift World Championships as the clear favorite, and intended to set a new record with . Savickas' competitors included Mikhail Koklyaev, Ervin Katona, Sebastian Wenta, Oleksandr Lashyn, Tobias Ide, Agris Kazelniks, Oleksandr Pekanov, Krzysztof Radzikowski and Saulius Brusokas.
The competition, held in Lithuania, saw each lift judged by three officials similar to Powerlifting and Olympic Weightlifting. The referees were Strongman Champions League founders Ilkka Kinnunen, Marcel Mostert and Latvian weightlifter Viktors Ščerbatihs, who had won the bronze medal in the + superheavyweight class at the recent Beijing Olympics. One of the strongest contenders, Oleksandr Pekanov, who had a personal best of missed his opener of three times. However, a number of other athletes came away with personal records, and two National Records were set. Zydrunas Savickas missed his world record attempt of , but won the championships with his lift of .More on the Strongman Champions League World Log Lift Championships by Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. 2009 IronMind, Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Results # Name Log Weight 1 Žydrūnas Savickas 2 Mikhail Koklyaev 2 Oleksandr Lashyn 2 Sebastian Wenta 5 Krzysztof Radzikowski 5 Ervin Katona 7 Agris Kazeļņiks 8 Saulius Brusokas 8 Tobias Ide
Records Nation Name Log Weight Russian Mikhail Koklyaev Polish Sebastian Wenta Serbian Ervin Katona
Source of results:
2009 The championships took place in Kaunas, Lithuania on 21 November 2009.
Results # Name Log Weight 1 Žydrūnas Savickas 2 Krzysztof Radzikowski 3 Vidas Blekaitis 4 Ervin Katona 5 Saulius Brusokas 6 Agris Kazeļņiks 6 Marys Leitis 8 Aleksandr Mantserov 9 Dainis Zageris
Records Nation Name Log Weight World Žydrūnas Savickas Lithuanian Žydrūnas Savickas Polish (Equalled) Krzysztof Radzikowski
Source of results:
2010 The Log Lift Championships were not held in 2010, and was moved up to February 2011 to kick off the 2011 season of SCL.
2011 The 2011 World Log Lift Championships were held in Siemens Arena in Vilnius, Lithuania on 12 February 2011 to kick off the 2011 SCL season. Key competitors were reigning champion Zydrunas Savickas, Vidas Blekaitis and Vytautas Lalas who finished in the top 3 places respectively, with Zavickas winning his 3rd straight log lift title. There were 12 athletes in total, 3 athletes failed their opening weight on all 3 attempts. The event was broadcast live on Eurosport.
Results # Name Log Weight 1 Žydrūnas Savickas 2 Vidas Blekaitis 3 Vytautas Lalas 3 Patrik Baboumian 3 Ervin Katona 6 Warrick Brant 7 Bjørn Andre Solvang 7 Agris Kazeļņiks 9 Marshall White
Records Nation Name Log Weight German Patrik Baboumian Serbian Ervin Katona Australian Warrick Brant
2012 The 2012 World Log Lift Championships were held in Siemens Arena in Vilnius, Lithuania on Sunday 7 October 2012.
Results # Name Log Weight 1 Žydrūnas Savickas 2 Krzysztof Radzikowski 3 Vytautas Lalas 3 Vidas Blekaitis 3 Mikhail Koklyaev (NR) 6 Johannes Årsjö 7 Jean-François "JF" Caron 7 Ervin Katona 7 Alex Moonen 7 Juha-Matti Jarvi X Ettiene Smit No lift
Records Nation Name Log Weight Russian Mikhail Koklyaev
2013 The 2013 World Log Lift Championships were held in Siemens Arena in Vilnius, Lithuania on Saturday 19 October 2013. Savickas set a new world record with a lift of .
Results # Name Log Weight 1 Žydrūnas Savickas 2 Vidas Blekaitis 3 Krzysztof Radzikowski 4 Dainis Zageris 5 Matt Wanat
Records Nation Name Log Weight World Žydrūnas Savickas Lithuanian Žydrūnas Savickas
2015 The 2015 World Log Lift Championships were held at the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster, England on 14 February 2015. Savickas attempted to set a new world record with a lift of but narrowly failed.
Results # Name Log Weight 1 Graham Hicks 1 Eddie Hall 1 Žydrūnas Savickas 4 Dimitar Savatinov 5 Krzysztof Radzikowski 5 Rob Frampton 5 Benedikt Magnússon 5 Robert Oberst 9 Michael Blumstein 9 Brian Irwin 9 Nick Best 9 Luke Stoltman X Adam Bishop No lift
Records Nation Name Log Weight English Graham Hicks English Eddie Hall