2023 Netherlands Strongest Woman & U105KG Man Results — Patricia Smit and Yoell Blom Win

The Netherlands recently hosted a huge weekend that was definitely a pleasure for all fans of strength sports. Firstly, on September 16th, in Earnewâld, Netherlands, the 2023 U105KG Netherlands Strongest Man took place. Then, just one day later, the time came for women to take the stage. So, the 2023 Netherlands Strongest Woman (Open) was also held. In the end, Patricia Smit and Yoell Blom came out victorious in their respective divisions.

Both the Women’s and U105KG Men’s divisions featured the same events, with the only difference between them being the weight increments. However, while the events were the same, the outcomes were very different. Patricia Smit had to push through until the end in the women’s division, and only ended up winning by two points. On the other hand, it seemed like the placings in the men’s divisions could be estimated even before the last event.

2023 Netherlands Strongest Woman (Open) Results

1. Patricia Smit — 61 points
2. Mayke Van Wouven — 59 points
3. Femke Huisman — 58 points
4. Elisa Hessels — 51 points
5. Kelly Franssen — 48 points
6. Jamie Lee Boudri — 42 points
7. Christel Veenstra — 31 points
8. Rowena Wehnes — 31 points
9. Chelsea Schweiger — 25 points
10. Linda Schenk — 24 points
11. Yvonne Allards — 21 points
12. Femkje Buijs — 17 points

2023 U105KG Netherlands Strongest Man Results

1. Yoell Blom — 65 points
2. Joey Henraath — 57.5 points
3. Wim Van De Groep — 53 points
4. Christian Van Elderen — 48 points
5. Randy Doornekamp — 45 points
6. Ruben Van Kreij — 45 points
7. John-Mark Bolwerk — 44.5 points
8. Jeffrey Laterveer — 38 points
9. Tom Van De Burg — 26 points
10. Toni Pieters — 23 points
11. Alex Schiltmans — 13 points
12. Kane Verberkt — 10 points

Related: 2023 U105KG Britain’s Strongest Man Results — William Relf Takes Gold

2023 Netherlands Strongest Woman (Open) Event Recap

Event One — Deadlift Ladder

The first event tasked the athletes with going through five deadlifts, with the first one weighing 140 kilograms, while the following four increased by 20 kilograms each time. However, the athletes could decide to stay at either of the weight increments and perform as many reps as possible. The only downside of that for them was that even one rep at a heavier weight from anyone else would beat their multiple reps with a lighter one.

Patricia Smit came in strong, declaring that she wants to claim her third National title. So, she performed three reps with the heaviest deadlift, something that no one else but her was able to achieve.

Femke Huisman also put in an incredible performance, being the only other woman apart from Patricia to successfully lock out 220 kilograms. However, she could not perform more than one rep to get closer to the winner of the event.

• Patricia Smit — 3 in 65.59 s (220-kg)
• Femke Huisman — 1 in 42.17 s (220-kg)
• Kelly Franssen — 1 in 21.52 s (200-kg)
• Yvonne Allards — 1 in 43.93 s (200-kg)
• Mayke Van Wouven — 1 in 71.62 s (200-kg)
• Elisa Hessels — 2 in 49.37 s (180-kg)
• Jamie Lee Boudri — 2 in 53.58 s (180-kg)
• Rowena Wehnes — 1 in 16.02 s (180-kg)
• Linda Schenk — 5 in 66.11 s (160-kg)
• Christel Veenstra — 4 in 72.27 s (160-kg)
• Femkje Buijs — 2 in 30.33 s (160-kg)
• Chelsea Schweiger — 1 in 20.52 s (160-kg)

Event Two — Bag Toss Medley

With one event down, the athletes headed to the next one, which was a Bag Toss Medley. Here they had to toss five progressively heavier sandbags, with the weight starting at 10 kilograms and ending at 18 kilograms. The height of the bar came out to 4 meters, while the time cap was 60 seconds.

Making it two out of two for event wins, Patricia Smit once again dominated the field. With none of the other 11 competitors even breaking the 40-second time barrier for four bags, Patricia recorded a time of 26.06 seconds. So, she did not even need to toss the fifth bag.

Mayke Van Wouven narrowly beat Kelly Franssen for second place, finishing her four-bag tosses eight seconds faster. So, Kelly had to settle for another third place finish.

• Patricia Smit — 4 in 26.06 s
• Mayke Van Wouven — 4 in 40.71 s
• Kelly Franssen — 4 in 48.86 s
• Femke Huisman — 3 in 23.27 s
• Elisa Hessels — 3 in 25.05 s
• Jamie Lee Boudri — 3 in 26.8 s
• Rowena Wehnes — 3 in 59.95 s
• Femkje Buijs — 2 in 17.77 s
• Chelsea Schweiger — 1 in 5.68 s
• Christel Veenstra — 1 in 11.83 s
• Linda Schenk — 1 in 12.8 s
• Yvonne Allards — 1 in 15.74 s

Event Three — Yoke Into Sandbag

While the athletes were still under the effects of the first two workouts, they already had to move on to the third event of the day. This one tasked them with carrying a 210-kilogram Yoke for 15 meters, then carrying an 80-kilogram sandbag for the same length.

This was the first event of the 2023 Netherlands Strongest Woman that we saw someone other than Patricia Smith win. Instead, Elisa Hessels took the maximum points. Every athlete in the roster finished both implements, but Elisa was the fastest with a time of 15.91 seconds.

Although Patricia Smith did not win the event, she still didn’t fall too far down, claiming second place with a time of 17.04 seconds.

• Elisa Hessels — 2 in 15.91 s
• Patricia Smit — 2 in 17.04 s
• Mayke Van Wouven — 2 in 18.78 s
• Femke Huisman — 2 in 19.19 s
• Jamie Lee Boudri — 2 in 21.79 s
• Kelly Franssen — 2 in 22.09 s
• Christel Veenstra — 2 in 23.63 s
• Chelsea Schweiger — 2 in 27.47 s
• Linda Schenk — 2 in 30 s
• Yvonne Allards — 2 in 30.62 s
• Rowena Wehnes — 2 in 34.47 s
• Femkje Buijs — 2 in 35.57 s

Event Four — Farmer’s Walk

Things started heating up on the fourth event of the 2023 Netherlands Strongest Woman, since athletes were literally pushed to their limits. Each athlete grabbed 60-kilogram Farmer’s Walk implements and carried them for maximum distance. Dropping the implements and then picking them up was not allowed.

An unusual event format also produced unexpected results, as Christel Veenstra managed to go 93.9 meters before dropping the implements. This was enough for first place, as realistically, only one woman posed a threat to her.

Chelsea Schweiger was the only one close to Christel, dropping the implements just two meters before the winner of the event.

• Christel Veenstra — 93.9 m
• Chelsea Schweiger — 91.8 m
• Mayke Van Wouven — 82.2 m
• Elisa Hessels — 83.5 m
• Femke Huisman — 80.5 m
• Jamie Lee Boudri — 80 m
• Linda Schenk — 70.8 m
• Patricia Smit — 67.2 m
• Yvonne Allards — 66.1 m
• Kelly Franssen — 65.7 m
• Femkje Buijs — 60 m
• Rowena Wehnes — 59.8 m

Event Five — Overhead Ladder

The Overhead Ladder was built on the same principle as the first event of the competition, the Deadlift Ladder. So, the women faced five weights ranging from 40 kilograms to 80 kilograms. They had to overhead press them in order, but once they could not move on to the heavier weight, they performed as many reps as possible with the one they performed last. Once again, even one rep with a heavier weight beat any number of reps with the lighter one.

Unlike the deadlifts, multiple athletes reached the final weight on the Overhead Press and performed multiple reps with it. Femke Huisman set a standard that could not be performed by anyone else, locking out four reps with 80 kilograms.

The second place battle came down to the wire, as Rowana Wehnes and Mayke Van Wouven performed three reps with 80 kilograms each, and in roughly the same time. However, three seconds made a huge difference, as they allowed Rowana to take second and pushed Mayke down to third place.

• Femke Huisman — 4 in 62.8 s (80-kg)
• Rowena Wehnes — 3 in 63.9 s (80-kg)
• Mayke Van Wouven — 3 in 67.14 s (80-kg)
• Patricia Smit — 3 in 74.85 s (80-kg)
• Kelly Franssen — 2 in 69.8 s (80-kg)
• Jamie Lee Boudri — 2 in 70.42 s (80-kg)
• Elisa Hessels — 2 in 64.02 s (70-kg)
• Femkje Buijs — 1 in 30.67 s (70-kg)
• Linda Schenk — 1 in 35.24 s (70-kg)
• Yvonne Allards — 4 in 64.3 s (60-kg)
• Christel Veenstra — 4 in 72.2 s (60-kg)
• Chelsea Schweiger — 3 in 61.61 s (60-kg)

Event Six — Atlas Stones

The final event of the 2023 Netherlands Strongest Woman was the Atlas Stones. It featured a series of six stones, whose weight ranged from 50 kilograms to 120 kilograms. Each of the stones had to be loaded onto a 1.2-meter high platform within a time limit of 90 seconds.

Coming into the final event, Patricia Smit only had a one point lead overall. So, she had to perform extremely well in the final event and not let anyone take the title from her hands. Patricia excelled under pressure, managing to claim her third event win of the day. She did so by loading all six stones in a time of 41.69 seconds.

Mayke Van Wouven was hoping that Patricia would place behind her in the final event, as that would secure her the overtake in the end. Everything looked good for her, as she completed all six stones in 52.75 seconds. However, that was only good for second place in the event, as well as on the overall leaderboards.

• Patricia Smit — 6 in 41.68 s
• Mayke Van Wouven — 6 in 52.75 s
• Kelly Franssen — 5 in 29.83 s
• Femke Huisman — 5 in 40.09 s
• Elisa Hessels — 5 in 54.08 s
• Jamie Lee Boudri — 4 in 28.65 s
• Rowena Wehnes — 4 in 30.74 s
• Christel Veenstra — 4 in 36.52 s
• Linda Schenk — 4 in 42.36 s
• Chelsea Schweiger — 4 in 45.58 s
• Femkje Buijs — 3 in 33.11 s
• Yvonne Allards — 3 in 81.02 s

Related: 2023 Strongman Champions League World’s Strongest Viking Results — Kane Francis Claims The Title

2023 U105KG Netherlands Strongest Man Event Recap

Event One — Deadlift For Reps

With the events being identical for 2023 Netherlands Strongest Woman and 2023 U105KG Netherlands Strongest Man, the only difference was the weight. So, for the first event of the men’s division, the five deadlifts ranged from 200 kilograms to 280 kilograms.

Tom Van De Burg was one of two men who performed five reps with the heaviest deadlift, but he stood alone in first place due to a significantly better time.

• Tom Van De Burg — 5 in 65 s (280-kg)
• Yoell Blom — 5 in 74 s (280-kg)
• Ruben Van Kreij — 3 in 60 s (280-kg)
• John-Mark Bolwerk — 3 in 64 s (280-kg)
• Wim Van De Groep — 3 in 70 s (280-kg)
• Joey Henraath — 2 in 45 s (280-kg)
• Jeffrey Laterveer — 1 in 47 s (280-kg)
• Randy Doornekamp — 3 in 63 s (260-kg)
• Christian Van Elderen —2 in 70 s (260-kg)
• Toni Pieters — 2 in 75 s (260-kg)
• Alex Schiltmans — 1 in 36 s (260-kg)
• Kane Verberkt — 1 in 14 s (240-kg)

Event Two — Bag Toss Medley

The Bag Toss medley was also heavier, with the first bag weighing 18 kilograms, while the fifth one came out to 26 kilograms.

Randy Doornekamp took the max points on event two, finishing all five in the time of 17.62 seconds, while the rest of the roster needed 20+ seconds to do the same.

• Randy Doornekamp — 5 in 17.62 s
• Yoell Blom — 5 in 21.56 s
• Christian Van Elderen — 5 in 22.9 s
• Ruben Van Kreij — 5 in 25 s
• Joey Henraath — 5 in 30.07 s
• Wim Van De Groep — 5 in 46.97 s
• Jeffrey Laterveer — 4 in 14 s
• John-Mark Bolwerk — 4 in 22 s
• Toni Pieters — 4 in 42 s
• Tom Van De Burg — 3 in 38 s
• Kane Verberkt — 2 in 11 s
• Alex Schiltmans — 2 in 12 s

Event Three — Yoke Into Sandbag

The Yoke for the 2023 U105KG Netherlands Strongest Man weighed 340 kilograms, while the sandbag weighed 120 kilograms. The distance was the same as for the women, coming out to 15 meters each.

An unbelievable tie took place on the third event, as Joey Henraath and Juhn-Mark Bolwerk finished both implements in the exact same time down to one-hundredth of a second. So, they share the top spot and the points.

• Joey Henraath — 19.97 s (Tied-First)
• John-Mark Bolwerk — 19.97 s (Tied-First)
• Wim Van De Groep — 21.78 s
• Jeffrey Laterveer — 22.94 s
• Yoell Blom — 23.63 s
• Christian Van Elderen — 24.15 s
• Ruben Van Kreij — 25.4 s
• Randy Doornekamp — 36.47 s
• Tom Van De Burg — 39.65 s
• Toni Pieters — 42.66 s
• Kane Verberkt — 48.01 s
• Alex Schiltmans — 50.69 s

Event Four — Farmer’s Walk

The Farmer’s Walk at the 2023 U105KG Netherlands Strongest Man was also for max distance, but the implements weighed 110 kilograms.

The fourth event was quite a comfortable win for Wim Van De Groep who crossed 4.3 meters more than his closest rival, and beat the rest by an even bigger margin.

• Wim Van De Groep — 64.3 m
• Yoell Blom — 60 m
• Joey Henraath — 59.1 m
• Christian Van Elderen — 54.5 m
• Randy Doornekamp — 52.1 m
• John-Mark Bolwerk — 49.75 m
• Jeffrey Laterveer — 41.35 m
• Ruben Van Kreij — 40 m
• Kane Verberkt — 33 m
• Alex Schiltmans — 24.1 m
• Tom Van De Burg — 23.3 m
• Toni Pieters — 23.1 m

Event Five — Overhead Medley

The five weights that had to be overhead pressed for men started at 80 kilograms and concluded at 120 kilograms. Like for the women, any number of reps with a heavier weight trumped multiple reps with a lighter weight.

Yoell Blom won the event by just two seconds, as both he and Joey Henraath completed three repetitions with the heaviest weight.

• Yoell Blom — 3 in 58.27 s (120-kg)
• Joey Henraath — 3 in 60.62 s (120-kg)
• Randy Doornekamp —3 in 65.37 s (120-kg)
• Christian Van Elderen — 3 in 70.78 s (120-kg)
• Ruben Van Kreij — 3 in 73.37 s (120-kg)
• Jeffrey Laterveer — 2 in 60.18 s (120-kg)
• Toni Pieters — 2 in 65.75 s (120-kg)
• Wim Van De Groep — 1 in 39.83 s (120-kg)
• John-Mark Bolwerk — 1 in 35.11 s (110-kg)
• Tom Van De Burg — 1 in 39.61 s (110-kg)
• Alex Schiltmans — 1 in 47.26 s (110-kg)
• Kane Verberkt — 1 in 23.46 s (100-kg)

Event Six — Atlas Stones

The set of six Atlas Stones for the men ranged from 130 kilograms to 180 kilograms. However, their platforms were slightly lower than the Women’s ones, as they were set to 1,15 meters.

The final event also went to Yoell Blom’s favor, as he won it by completing all six of the stones. Interestingly, no other man was able to do the same, as others finished five or less.

• Yoell Blom — 6 in 79.53 s
• Wim Van De Groep — 5 in 32.54 s
• Joey Henraath — 5 in 61.18 s
• Christian Van Elderen —5 in 88.28 s
• John-Mark Bolwerk — 4 in 32.52 s
• Ruben Van Kreij — 4 in 55.71 s
• Toni Pieters — 3 in 58.86 s
• Randy Doornekamp — 2 in 14.74 s
• Jeffrey Laterveer — 2 in 15.85 s
• Alex Schiltmans — 2 in 18.65 s
• Tom Van Der Burg — 2 in 23.65 s
• Kane Verberkt — 1 in 18.05 s

Related: 2023 England’s Strongest Man & Woman Results — Patrick Haynes & Naomi Hadley Win

Both the 2023 Netherlands Strongest Woman and U105KG Man proved to be quite interesting shows. The women’s division was arguably a bit more exciting, as everything came down to the final event. Men’s division, on the other hand, was sort of dominated by Yoell Blom, who displayed incredible shape and potential moving forward.

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