Lucas Punkari
The first event of the year for local “Strongman” Luke Skaarup was one he won’t forget, coming away with an eighth-place showing at the third-annual World Amateur Strongman Championships in Columbus, Ohio over the weekend.
“It was an outstanding weekend and it was one of the best ‘Strongman’ performances of my career,” Skaarup enthused.
“The Arnold Sports Festival itself is such a huge event with people coming from all over to take in a variety of fitness-related sporting events like bodybuilding, Olympic lifting, and MMA,” he noted.
“For myself, it was an honour and one of the best experiences of my life to be one of the five athletes competing for Canada there, and I also got a chance to rub shoulders with the best in the sport from past and present,” Skaarup added.
A total of 54 competitors took part in the opening day of competition Friday, with all of them vying to make the top 10 and advance to Sunday’s final.
Skaarup began the competition with three 320-pound reps in the log clean and press, and also had a time of 38.31 seconds during the medley event, before he made 13 reps in the Ford Focus deadlift, which had him just outside of finishing in the top three.
“The Focus was fairly heavy, as it was approximately the equivalent of an 825-pound deadlift for reps,” Skaarup recalled.
“The leader before I went up had made 15 reps, so my plan was to do as many as possible in the time allowed, and I started off quickly and made 11 reps.
“I paused briefly and did two more reps to finish with 13 reps, which gave me big points in the overall standings,” he explained.
After completing the 400-pound Hussafel Carry with a distance of 159 feet, one inch, Skaarup found himself in sixth place overall after the first day of competition, which advanced him into Sunday’s final three events.
His first event Sunday saw him lift three different weights in 23 seconds in the dumbbell press medley, which placed him just outside the top three and had him move to fifth overall in the standings.
“I made quick work of the first three dumbbells, which weighed 173, 190, and 200 pounds, and I gave the 210-pound dumbbell my best effort but I just couldn’t get it,” Skaarup noted.
Skaarup remained in fifth place overall after completing the odd load medley in a time of 25.6 seconds.
But he dropped down the standings after finishing in last place in the Atlas stone event, where competitors had to get a 420-pound Atlas stone over a 54” bar for maximum reps.
“I was shooting for two or three reps on this event since essentially this was a max lift,” he explained.
“I got the first one quickly and had the second one to the bar, where I attempted to grab the bar and force it over with my chest, but it was not quite high enough and I lost the rep.
“I tried a few more times to get another rep, but I couldn’t manage any more,” he sighed.
Even though the last event saw him drop to eighth place in the final standings, Skaarup still was ecstatic over the result.
“I was very pleased to be the top Canadian there at the event, and the entire weekend was one that I will never forget,” he remarked.
Next up for Skaarup will be the Fort Frances Strongman competition, which will take place Saturday, May 5 at the Memorial Sports Centre in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce’s annual Home and Leisure Show.
