The 2023 Strongman Champions League visits 16 separate locations all over the world, and the most recent competition, World’s Strongest Viking, took place in Hämeenlinna, Finland. The competition took place on August 18th, 2023 and consisted of five events in total. So, the 12-man roster promised to put on a thrilling and tight competition from start to finish. However, Kane Francis displayed his greatest performance yet and thus put in a near-perfect result. Therefore, Kane was crowned the World’s Strongest Viking.
Kane Francis won the title of 2023 SCL World’s Strongest Viking by being the most consistent athlete in the roster. He won two events, but did not drop below fourth place in any of the other events as well. So, where others lost points, Kane managed to remain very solid, which helped him build up a lead.
2023 World’s Strongest Viking Results
- Kane Francis — 53.5 points
- Ervin Toots — 46 points
- Sigfus Fossdal — 44.5 points
- Andrea Invernizzi — 43.5 points
- Dennis Kohlruss — 40.5 points
- Gianluca Ardenghi — 31 points
- Alex Lungu — 27 points
- Kalle Ahola — 22.5 points
- Valtter Kortelainen — 20 points
- Jesper Hansson — 16 points
- Jarkko Malinen — 12.5 points
- Sean O’Hagan — 6 points
Related: Oskar Ziółkowski & Lucy Underdown Win 2023 OSG European Championships
Hammer Deadlift for Reps
The start of the 2023 SCL World’s Strongest Viking competition gave competitors 60 seconds to complete as many deadlift repetitions as possible. However, they didn’t perform the deadlift on the standard barbell, but instead on an interesting contraption which allowed the organizers to place a humongous hammer on the back of the platform which was lifted. While it may sound confusing, the overall weight that the athletes were deadlifting was 350 kilograms (771 pounds).
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Andrea Invernizzi was in a league of his own when it came to deadlifts, easily putting up a mark of eight reps that no one after him could reach. So, he began his competition with a maximum of 12 points.
Kane Francis also put in a very noteworthy performance, having successfully locked out five reps with a weight that was far too heavy for most competitors. So, he finished in second place.
In third place, Ervin Toots narrowly edged out three other athletes after performing one more rep.
- Andrea Invernizzi — 8 reps
- Kane Francis — 5 reps
- Ervin Toots — 4 reps
- Sigfus Fossdal — 3 reps (Tied-Fourth)
- Gianluca Ardenghi — 3 reps (Tied-Fourth)
- Jesper Hansson — 3 reps (Tied-Fourth)
- Dennis Kohlruss — No lift
- Alex Lungu — No lift
- Kalle Ahola — No lift
- Valtter Kortelainen — No lift
- Jarkko Malinen — No lift
- Sean O’Hagan — No lift
Super Yoke
Moving on to the second event of the 2023 SCL World’s Strongest Viking, the athletes found themselves facing a humongous 400-kilogram (882-pound) Super Yoke. They had to pick it up and carry it for a distance of 30 meters, and in a time cap of 75 seconds.
Following his impressive placing in the first event, Kane Francis managed to further improve and claim his first victory of the day. He completed the entire course in just 21.91 seconds, making him the winner very comfortably.
Sigfus Fossdal was the next best man, having beaten the Estonian Ervin Toots by just over one second.
- Kane Francis — 21.91 seconds
- Sigfus Fossdal — 27.25 seconds
- Ervin Toots — 28.44 seconds
- Gianluca Ardenghi — 29.63 seconds
- Andrea Invernizzi — 46.12 seconds
- Dennis Kohlruss — 43.38 seconds
- Alex Lungu — 60.38 seconds
- Kalle Ahola — 27.7 meters
- Jarkko Malinen — 21.8 meters
- Valtter Kortelainen — 21.5 meters
- Jesper Hansson — No lift
- Sean O’Hagan — No lift
Viking Press for Reps
Marking the midpoint of the competition was the Viking Press. The goal of this event was to complete as many overhead press repetitions as possible with the weight of 160 kilograms (352 pounds). The time limit given for this challenge was 60 seconds.
Dennis Kohlruss was definitely the favorite for the Viking Press event as he recently displayed his tremendous shoulder power at the 2023 Germany’s Strongest Man competition. So, he set the mark of 16 reps to beat. However, it came as a surprise that Sigfus Fossdal matched his performance. So, the two men tied for first place and shared points.
Alex Lungu completed 15 reps, making him the third greatest athlete in this event, which was worthy of the 10 points he received.
- Dennis Kohlruss — 16 reps (Tied-First)
- Sigfus Fossdal — 16 reps (Tied-First)
- Alex Lungu — 15 reps
- Kane Francis — 13 reps (Tied-Fourth)
- Andrea Invernizzi — 13 reps (Tied-Fourth)
- Ervin Toots — 12 reps
- Kalle Ahola — 9 reps (Tied-Seventh)
- Jarkko Malinen — 9 reps (Tied-Seventh)
- Valtter Kortelainen — 8 reps
- Gianluca Ardenghi — 6 reps
- Jesper Hansson — No lift
- Sean O’Hagan — No lift
Forward Hold
The penultimate event of the 2023 SCL World’s Strongest Viking was endurance based, as the athletes had to pick up a 25-kilogram (55-pound) implement and hold it with their arms extended in front of them.
The Italian, Andrea Invernizzi, once again stood on top of the rankings, in what was a fierce battle for the victory between him and one other man. In the end, Andrea managed to hold the implement for exactly one second longer.
Falling only behind Andrea, Dennis Kohlruss finished in second place with a time of 35.72 seconds. The third place finisher, Kane Francis was also not too far behind, as he dropped the implement at the 33.56 time mark.
- Andrea Invernizzi — 36.72 seconds
- Dennis Kohlruss — 35.72 seconds
- Kane Francis — 33.57 seconds
- Gianluca Ardenghi — 32.5 seconds
- Ervin Toots — 31.1 seconds
- Valtter Kortelainen — 30.6 seconds
- Alex Lungu — 28.44 seconds
- Sigfus Fossdal — 25.15 seconds
- Kalle Ahola — 22 seconds
- Sean O’Hagan — 21.97 seconds
- Jarkko Malinen — 21.63 seconds
- Jesper Hansson — 15.19 seconds
Natural Stones
For the final event of the 2023 SCL World’s Strongest Viking competition, the athletes had to pick up and load five Natural Stones, whose weight ranged from 100 kilograms (220.5 pounds) to (308.6 pounds).
Although he was already in a very comfortable first place on the overall standings, Kane Francis solidified his title-winning performance with his second event victory of the day. He did so by loading all five stones in just 50.62 seconds.
Ervin Toots was the second man to load all five stones, which managed to bump his placing overall and secure him a silver medal ahead of Sigfus Fossdal.
Dennis Kohlruss claimed another top three finish, having required 62.75 seconds to complete all five stones. So, he proved that he definitely belongs among the greatest Strongmen in the world.
- Kane Francis — 5 in 50.62 s
- Ervin Toots — 5 in 53.59 s
- Dennis Kohlruss — 5 in 62.75 s
- Sigfus Fossdal — 5 in 71.37 s
- Kalle Ahola — 5 in 73 s
- Jesper Hansson — 5 in 75 s
- Valtter Kortelainen — 4 in 75 s
- Alex Lungu — 3 in 35.76 s
- Andrea Invernizzi — 3 in 47.29 s
- Sean O’Hagan — 3 in 49.11 s
- Gianluca Ardenghi — 2 in 28.83 s
- Jarkko Malinen — 1 in 12.32 s
Related: 2023 Strongman Champions League England Results — Shane Flowers Takes Gold
Currently, Kane Francis is 31 years old and in the prime of his career. However, he has only been competing at the highest stage for about one year now. So, he is just starting to get more experienced. This is his first International victory in the 11 appearances he made, but he has definitely earned it after finishing in the top three during his previous three competitions as well.
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