Strength athletics in Iceland

The origin of Icelanders testing each other through feats and tests of strength predates the introduction of strength athletics and in terms of strength based sports there had been a number of noted powerlifters and weightlifters during the twentieth century. However, in the era of strongman competition Iceland has a record that belies the size of the nation's population having won 9 WSM titles, second only to the USA who have won 12 titles. Before Iceland had its own national competition, it already had men competing on the international circuit. In 1983, the young powerlifter and bodybuilder, Jón Páll Sigmarsson entered the 1983 World's Strongest Man competition and was only beaten into second place by the experienced Geoff Capes. Sigmarsson went on to win the competition the following year and in total won it four times. Sigmarsson was also a six times World Muscle Power champion and winner of the Pure Strength title. His contemporary, and good friend Hjalti Árnason, was also competing at this time and as well as podium finishes in World Muscle Power and World Strongman Challenge, he won the highly regarded Le Defi Mark Ten International competition. Magnús Ver Magnússon followed in their footsteps and emulated Sigmarsson's four WSM titles. There have also been a number of other highly respected Icelandic competitors in the top international events and in 2010 Stefán Sölvi Pétursson achieved a fourth-place finish in the 2010 World's Strongest Man.

Since 1985, Iceland has had its own national competition, Iceland's Strongest Man. There have also been three other major titles contested in Iceland, including Strongest Man in Iceland, Iceland's Strongest Man (IFSA) and Iceland's Strongest Viking.

Iceland’s Strongest Man

In 1985, the very first Iceland's Strongest Man contest was staged.[1] Hjalti Árnason was second to Jón Páll that year whilst Magnús Ver Magnússon came third. Thus, in the very first contest the podium finishers would between them go on to win the World's Strongest Man eight times, the World Muscle Power Classic seven times, the World Strongman Challenge, Le Defi Mark Ten International and numerous powerlifting titles including the super-heavyweight IPF World Powerlifting Championships. The contest's profile was immediately internationally renowned and it eventually became an open competition, although if a non-Icelander wins, the title of Iceland's Strongest Man defers to the highest place Icelander. This has only happened on 2 occasions when the legendary Bill Kazmaier and Regin Vagadal of the Faroe Islands won. Terry Hollands and Adrian Rollinson of the United Kingdom and Don Pope of the USA have all placed second.

Year	Champion	Runner-Up	3rd Place	Location
1985	Jón Páll Sigmarsson	Hjalti Árnason	Magnús Ver Magnússon
1986	Jón Páll Sigmarsson	Hjalti Árnason	Magnús Ver Magnússon
1987	Jón Páll Sigmarsson	Hjalti Árnason	Magnús Ver Magnússon
1988	Bill Kazmaier	Magnús Ver Magnússon	Hjalti Árnason
1989	Magnús Ver Magnússon
1990	Jón Páll Sigmarsson
1991[2][3]	Magnús Ver Magnússon	Hjalti Árnason	Björgvin Filippusson
1992	Jón Páll Sigmarsson
1993	Magnús Ver Magnússon
1994	Magnús Ver Magnússon
1995	Magnús Ver Magnússon	Torfi Ólafsson
1996	Magnús Ver Magnússon	Hjalti Árnason
1997
1998	Regin Vagadal  Faroe Islands	Gunnar Þór	Torfi Ólafsson
1999	Torfi Ólafsson
2000[4]	Gunnar Þór	Torfi Ólafsson	Audunn Jónsson
2001	Magnús Ver Magnússon	Magnús Magnússon	Kristinn Óskar 'Boris' Haraldsson
2002[5]	Magnus Magnusson	Auðunn Jónsson	Grétar Guðmundsson
2003	Benedikt Magnússon	Auðunn Jónsson	Grétar Guðmundsson
2004	Magnús Ver Magnússon	Benedikt Magnússon	Auðunn Jónsson
2005[6]	Kristinn Oskar 'Boris' Haraldsson	Adrian Rollinson  Great Britain	Guðjón Gíslason
2006[7]	Kristinn Óskar 'Boris' Haraldsson	Don Pope  United States	Jens Fylkisson
2007[8]	Kristinn Óskar 'Boris' Haraldsson	Terry Hollands  Great Britain	Don Pope  United States
2008	Kristinn Óskar 'Boris' Haraldsson	Stefán Sölvi Pétursson	Orri Geirsson
2009	Stefán Sölvi Pétursson	Kristinn Óskar 'Boris' Haraldsson	Páll Logason
2010	Stefán Sölvi Pétursson	Benedikt Magnússon	Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson
2011[9]	Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson	Ari Gunnarsson	Páll Logason
2012	Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson	Ari Gunnarsson	Páll Logason
2013	Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson	Páll Logason	Ari Gunnarsson
2014	Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson	Páll Logason
2015	Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson	Ari Gunnarsson	Fannar Smári
2016	Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson	Stefán Sölvi Pétursson	Ari Gunnarsson
2017	Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson	Ari Gunnarsson	Fannar Smári
2018	Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson
2019	Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson	Eyþór Ingólfsson Melsteð	Kristján Níelsson
2020	Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson	Eyþór Ingólfsson Melsteð	Ari Gunnarsson

Iceland's Strongest Viking

In 2010, this contest was held for the nineteenth time, dating it back to 1992.[15] In some years the results of this contest have been combined with those of Iceland's Strongest Man in order to ascertain who qualifies for the World's Strongest Man.

Year	Champion	Runner-Up	3rd Place	Location
1998	Regin Vagadal  Faroe Islands	Gunnar Þór Guðjónsson	Torfi Ólafsson
1999
2000	Magnús Ver Magnússon	Auðunn Jónsson	Svavar Einarsson
2001	Magnús Ver Magnússon	Guðmundur Otri Sigurðsson	Jón Valgeir Williams
2002	Magnús Ver Magnússon	Jón Valgeir Williams	Magnús Magnússon
2003	Magnús Ver Magnússon	Jón Valgeir Williams	Auðunn Jónsson
2004	Magnús Ver Magnússon	Benedikt Magnússon	Jon Valgeir Williams
2005[16]	Magnús Ver Magnússon	Magnus Magnusson	Georg Ögmundsson
2006[17]	Stefán Sölvi Pétursson	Georg Ögmundsson	Jón Valgeir Williams
2007	Benedikt Magnússon	Petur Bruno and Georg Ögmundsson
2009	Stefán Sölvi Pétursson	Páll Logason
2010	Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson[15]	Páll Logason	Ari Gunnarsson
2011	Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson	Stefán Sölvi Pétursson	Ari Gunnarsson
2012	Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson	Stefán Sölvi Pétursson	Georg Ögmundsson

• Strength athletics