Ukrainian strongman Oleksii Novikov won the 2022 Europe's Strongest Man (ESM) contest today on April 2, 2022, dethroning last year's champion Luke Stoltman by only four points. Oleksii Novikov is on a roll this year with a second-place finish at the 2022 Arnold Strongman Classic.
Everything went the way Oleksii needed it to so that he could secure this win. You can check out the full 2022 Europe's Strongest Man event results and recap below.
2022 Europe's Strongest Man Results & Recap
The strongmen competed in 5 events that tested their skills in multiple ways. The 2022 strongman season has had some great competitions thus far including the 2022 Forca Bruta, 2022 Britain's Strongest Man and the 2022 Arnold Strongman Classic. The lineup for this event was stacked with talent and it was anybody's guess who'd end up on top of the podium.
Check out how the events played out.
Max Log Lift
The goal is simple, but the execution can be difficult; the athletes are trying to see who can lift the most weight over their heads.
Luke Stoltman is an absolute unit when it comes to pressing events and was able to achieve a 218 kg ( 480.7 lb) lift. Luke attempted to break the world record by attempting a 230 kg rep but could not lock it out.
- Luke Stoltman —12 points - (218 kilograms)
- Eythor Ingolfsson Melsted — 10 points (tie 2nd) - (185 kilograms)
- Pavlo Kordiyaka — 10 points (tie 2nd) - (185 kilograms)
- Oleksii Novikov — 10 points (tie 2nd) - (185 kilograms)
- Gavin Bilton — 6.5 points (tie 3rd) - (170 kilograms)
- Shane Flowers — 6.5 points (tie 3rd) - (170 kilograms)
- Konstantine Janashia — 6.5 points (tie 3rd)- (170 kilograms)
- Marius Lalas — 6.5 points (tie 3rd)- (170 kilograms)
- Kelvin de Ruiter — 0 points
- Rauno Heinla — 0 points
- Pa O'Dwyer — 0 points
- Aimars Smaukstelis — 0 points
The 2022 Log Lift Challenge was a part of the "Log Lift" event at the 2022 Europe's Strongest Man. It featured Chieck "Iron Biby" Sanou and Bobby Thompson, who joined the other competitors for only this event to try and attempt to break the Log Lift records. Their results did not affect the 2022 Europe's Strongest Man standings in any way. Iron Biby tied with Luke for a lift of 218 kg.
Deadlift Ladder
Athletes had 75 seconds to successfully deadlift five different weights ranging from 300 kg (661 lb) to 400 kg (881 lb), testing both their brute strength and cardiovascular endurance.
This event turned out to be a monster as no one could lift all five weights successfully. Konstantine Janashia took first place because he was able to do the first four weights in 35.04 seconds. Rauno Heinla took the second, and Oleksii took third to wrap up the podium spots.
- Konstantine Janashia — 12 points - (4 reps in 35.04 seconds)
- Rauno Heinla — 11 points - (4 reps in 39.49 seconds)
- Oleksii Novikov — 10 points - (4 reps in 41.92 seconds)
- Marius Lalas — 9 points - (4 reps in 48.2 seconds)
- Luke Stoltman — 8 points - (4 reps in 55.21 seconds)
- Shane Flowers — 7 points - (4 reps in 61.03 seconds)
- Pa O'Dwyer — 6 points - (3 reps in 28.7 seconds)
- Aimars Smaukstelis — 5 points - (3 reps in 29.23 seconds)
- Eythor Ingolfsson Melsted — 4 points - (3 reps in 32.2 seconds)
- Gavin Bilton — 3 points - (3 reps in 38.4 seconds)
- Kelvin de Ruiter — 2 points (3 reps in 40.5 seconds)
- Pavlo Kordiyaka — 1 point (3 reps in 48.76 seconds)
Carry and Drag
The athletes were supposed to carry a 120 kg (264 lb) anchor down a 20-meter course. Then they had to connect it to a 350 kg (771 lb) chain and drag both back the full 20 meters.
Oleksii Novikov got a pivotal win here in the third event of the 2022 Europe's Strongest Man. Luke Stoltman finished in 5th place, and Oleksii was able to take over the overall lead for the first time in this competition.
- Oleksii Novikov — 12 points - (26.26 seconds)
- Kelvin de Ruiter — 11 points - (26.5 seconds)
- Pavlo Kordiyaka — 10 points - (27.3 seconds)
- Shane Flowers — 9 points - (27.45 seconds)
- Luke Stoltman — 8 points - (28.4 seconds)
- Aimars Smaukstelis — 7 points - (29.03 seconds)
- Pa O’Dwyer — 6 points - (29.54 seconds)
- Marius Lalas — 5 points - (30.11 seconds)
- Eythor Ingolfsson Melsted — 4 points - (33.51 seconds)
- Konstantine Janashia — 3 points - (35.28 seconds)
- Rauno Heinla — 2 points - (35.87 seconds)
- Gavin Bilton — 1 point - (42.22 seconds)
Before the start of the fourth event, Rauno Heinla withdrew from the contest due to unknown reasons, leaving 11 athletes competing for the top spot.
Power Stairs
Athletes had to go up 15 stairs with five weights getting progressively heavier after every three steps. The height of each stair is 42 cm (16.5-in). The weight set for the event was: 200 kg (441 lb), 210 kg (463 lb), 225 kg (496 lb), 240 kg (529 lb), and 250 kg (551 lb). Power Stairs have not been a Strongman event for a long time, making this one of the most interesting Strongman events for the year to watch.
Aivars Smaukstelis destroyed the competition by taking the win with a time of 27.2 seconds.
Only two other people were able to keep the timer under thirty seconds, with Luke and Oleksii both shy of hitting just under thirty seconds.
- Aivars Smaukstelis — 12 points - (27.2 seconds
- Pavlo Kordiyaka — 11 points - (28.09 seconds)
- Shane Flowers — 10 points - (29.27 seconds)
- Luke Stoltman — 9 points - (30.1 seconds)
- Oleksii Novikov — 8 points - (30.25 seconds)
- Konstantine Janashia — 7 points - (31.05 seconds)
- Marius Lalas — 6 points - (32.67 seconds)
- Kelvin de Ruiter — 5 points - (35.56 seconds)
- Pa O’Dwyer — 4 points - (40.16 seconds)
- Eythor Ingolfsson Melsted — 3 points - (48.35 seconds)
- Gavin Bilton — 2 points - (51.81 seconds)
**Rauno Heinla – (Withdrew)
Atlas Stones
There is no better way to close out a Strongman competition than with the Atlas Stones. The stones in this event ranged from 100 kg (220 lb) to 180 kg (397 lb), with each stone having to be placed on its respective pedestal. The maximum time allotted was 60 seconds.
Oleksii Novikov and Luke Stoltman went face-to-face in the final event of the 2022 Europe's Strongest Man. Which was a fitting way to wrap up the event as both athletes were neck and neck, with Oleksii finishing just a fraction of a second before Luke. This win solidified Oleksii as the overall winner of the competition.
- Oleksii Novikov — 12 points - (5 Stones in 20.3 seconds)
- Luke Stoltman — 11 points - (5 Stones in 20.4 seconds)
- Konstantine Janashia — 10 points - (5 Stones in 24.02 seconds)
- Aivars Smaukstelis — 9 points - (5 Stones in 24.34 seconds)
- Eythor Ingolfsson Melsted — 8 points - (5 Stones in 25.2 seconds)
- Gavin Bilton — 7 points - (5 Stones in 25.28 seconds)
- Pavlo Kordiyaka — 6 points - (5 Stones in 25.31 seconds)
- Kelvin de Ruiter — 5 points - (5 Stones in 30.6 seconds)
- Pa O'Dwyer — 4 points - (5 Stones in 31.03 seconds)
- Marius Lalas — 3 points - (4 Stones -Ran out of Time)
- Shane Flowers — 2 points - (4 Stones -Ran out of Time)
2022 ESM Final Standings
After the 5 events above the strongmen finished in the following place with corresponding point totals.
- Oleksii Novikov — 52 points
- Luke Stoltman — 48 points
- Konstantine Janashia — 38.5 points
- Pavlo Kordiyaka — 37 points
- Shane Flowers — 36.5 points
- Aivars Smaukstelis — 33 points
- Eythor Ingolfsson Melsted — 29 points
- Marius Lalas — 28.5 points
- Kelvin de Ruiter — 23 points
- Pa O'Dwyer — 20 points
- Gavin Bilton — 19.5 points
- Rauno Heinla — 13 points (dropped out)
CLOSING THOUGHTS
This event was a good way to leave the week on a high note after getting the news from JF Caron about his probable retirement. The 2022 Europe's Strongest Man is the last major competition before the 2022 World's Strongest Man, which will take place from May 24-29, 2022, in Sacramento, CA. So thankfully, we won't have to wait too long for the next big event in Strongman.
SET FOR SET congratulates all the athletes but especially Oleksii Novikov for winning the 2022 ESM title and for being the first man from Ukraine to win.
Andrew Lenau
Author