The 2024 Middle East’s Strongest Man competition took place on January 28th, at the Strong Gym in Dubai. This competition gathered some of the strongest men in the region to find out who was the strongest among them. The winner turned out to be Fadi El Nasri, also known as the Northside Giant.
Fadi El Masri did not have the ideal start to the competition, but he turned the situation around from the third event onward. So, he ended his performance with two event wins and a tally of 18 points.
2024 Middle East’s Strongest Man Results
- Fadi El Masri — 18 points
- Stephen Wamalwa — 18 points
- Jerome Pever — 16 points
- Leontiy Miroshnik — 16 points
- Sergey Potekhin — 4 points
Related: 2024 Britain’s Strongest Man Results — Tom Stoltman Wins
Event One — Max Squat
To start off the 2024 Middle East’s Strongest Man, the competitors faced one of the most essential feats of strength – the squat. This one was specific though, as they performed it with a buffalo barbell, while wagon wheels substituted the weight plates. Their goal was to put up the heaviest squat possible.
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Stephen Wamalwa took the win in the opening event of the competition with a humongous 350-kilogram (771.6-pound) squat. That was enough to beat Leontiy Miroshnik by 10 kilograms (22 pounds). However, the duo were significantly better than anyone else.
The third place went to Fadi El Masri, who was the only remaining athlete to achieve the 300-kilogram (xx) squat.
- Stephen Wamalwa — 350 kilograms
- Leontiy Miroshnik — 340 kilograms
- Fadi El Masri — 300 kilograms
- Jerome Pever — 290 kilograms
- Sergey Potekhin — 180 kilograms
Event Two — Overhead Medley
For the second event, the athletes had to overhead press a series of four implements in the fastest time possible. The implements were:
Dumbbell: 80-kg (176.4-lb)
Axle: 120-kg (264.6-lb)
Barbell: 140-kg (308.6-lb)
Log: 160-kg (352.7-lb)
No one managed to lift the fourth implement, but some of the athletes did manage to lift three of them. The fastest to do so was Jerome Pever, who finished them in just 20 seconds.
Stephen Wamalwa and Leontiy Miroshnik battled for second place and only a few seconds determined their placements. Ultimately, Stephen got the better of Leonity, as he finished the three implements in 38 seconds.
- Jerome Pever — 3 in 20 seconds
- Stephen Wamalwa — 3 in 38 seconds
- Leontiy Miroshnik — 3 in 46 seconds
- Fadi El Masri — 2 in 13 seconds
- Sergey Potekhin — 0 reps
Event Three — Super Yoke
For the third event of the 2024 Middle East’s Strongest Man competition the athletes were given 60 seconds to cover as much distance as possible with a 420-kg (925.9-lb) Yoke. They were, however, allowed to drop the Yoke and pick it back up. So, the only limiter was the time cap.
There was one clear winner in the Super Yoke event, as Fadi El Masri easily carried nearly half a ton on his back. So, in the 60 seconds that were at his disposal, Fadi managed to cross 24.7 meters and take the max points.
Stephen Wamalwa came in second, with a total distance of 13.7 meters. Leonity Miroshnik wrapped up the top three, exactly two meters behind Stephen.
- Fadi El Masri — 24.7 meters
- Stephen Wamalwa — 13.7 meters
- Leontiy Miroshnik — 11.7 meters
- Jerome Pever — 5 meters
- Sergey Potekhin — 1 meter
Event Four — Sandbag Toss
The penultimate event of the competition was the Sandbag Toss, where athletes took on five implements. The bags weighed from 20-kg (44.1-lb) to 28-kg (61.7-lb) and had to be tossed over a 4-meter high beam.
Fadi El Masri claimed his second win in a row and placed himself as the top runner for the title. He was the only man to successfully toss all five of the sandbags and did so in 70 seconds.
Leonity Miroshnik finished in second place as the sole competitor with four completed bags. Furthermore, Jerome Pever placed third with one bag less than Leonity.
- Fadi El Masri — 5 in 70 s
- Leontiy Miroshnik — 4 in 27 s
- Jerome Pever — 3 in 59 s
- Sergey Potekhin — 1 in 15 s
- Stephen Wamalwa — 0 reps
Event Five — Deadlift Hold
The last event of the 2024 Middle East’s Strongest Man was all about the grip strength. So, the athletes picked up 160 kilograms (352.7 pounds) in each hand and held it for as long as possible.
After finishing in last place on event four, Stephen Wamalwa managed to win the final event of the competition. He managed to hold the implements for mind-blowing 39 seconds.
Jerome Pever was not far behind, as his grip strength allowed him to reach 36 seconds, which was enough for a second place finish. Fadi El Masri was the last of the men who managed to reach the 30 second mark, so he took third place.
- Stephen Wamalwa — 39 seconds
- Jerome Pever — 36 seconds
- Fadi El Masri — 30 seconds
- Leontiy Miroshnik — 25 seconds
- Sergey Potekhin — No lift
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Fadi El Masri has had a couple of International appearances, with his most notable one being the 2023 World’s Strongest Man. He did not manage to go through the qualifying stages then, but he still put up a battle against the world’s greatest Strongmen. However, he has now been crowned as Middle East’s Strongest Man, which marks another important point in his career.