The 2024 Strongman Champions League (SCL) Holland took place on June 22nd in Groenlo, Netherlands. It was definitely one of the most special competitions of the season so far, mainly due to one man, Rayno Nel. He made his debut in the SCL, and not only did he come out victorious, but he also claimed the win in a very dominant manner.
Rayno Nel is a South African representative, but he has not competed in any SCL competitions prior to this. However, that did not stop him from crushing 13 elite Strongmen, of whom some are former WSM competitors. Nel managed to win five out of six events at the competition, thus nearly getting the maximum number of points available.
2024 Strongman Champions League Holland Results
- Rayno Nel — 79.5 points
- Aivars Šmaukstelis — 71.5 points
- George Sulaiman — 65 points
- Evans Aryee — 64.5 points
- Kevin Hazeleger — 53.5 points
- Oskar Ziółkowski — 43.5 points
- Ilya Khazov — 36 points
- Dennis Kohlruss — 35 points
- Kelvin de Ruiter — 34 points
- Ervin Toots — 32 points
- Angelo van der Pas — 31.5 points
- Mika Törrö — 30 points
- Andrea Invernizzi — 29 points
- Morgan Hill — 20 points
Related: 2024 Strongman Champions League Serbia Results — Kane Francis Wins
Event Recap
Event One — Truck Pull
The 16,000-kilogram (35,274-pound) Truck was the first challenge that the athletes had to face at the 2024 Strongman Champions League Holland. The task they had to perform was an arm-over-arm pull, with the goal being to move the truck 25 meters in the 60-second time limit. The order of results was decided by ranking the times from fastest to slowest.
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Rayno Nel’s first event in the Strongman Champions League turned out to be a win, as he beat everyone else with a time of 33.34 seconds. This is especially impressive considering that he battled against some of the world’s greatest truck pullers.
Kelvin de Ruiter was one of the favorites for this event, but he had to settle for second place despite finishing just 0.38 seconds behind Nel. Aivars Šmaukstelis finished in third place with a time of 37.99 seconds, which marked a great start to the competition for him and sparked a rivalry with Rayno as well.
- Rayno Nel — 33.34 s
- Kelvin de Ruiter — 33.72 s
- Aivars Šmaukstelis — 37.99 s
- Kevin Hazeleger — 38.47 s
- George Sulaiman — 39.38 s
- Andrea Invernizzi — 39.50 s
- Ilya Khazov — 39.68 s
- Mika Törrö — 40.40 s
- Evans Aryee — 42.69 s
- Angelo van der Pas — 43.44 s
- Ervin Toots — 43.88 s
- Oskar Ziółkowski — 44.50 s
- Dennis Kohlruss — 53.04 s
- Morgan Hill — 7.5 m
Event Two — Log Lift
The second event featured a pretty simple format of an upper body strength test, as the athletes got a chance to perform an AMRAP on the Log Lift. In other words, they aimed to perform as many reps as possible with a 140-kilogram (308.6-pound) Log. The time cap for the event was 60 seconds.
Rayno Nel once again found himself at the top of the leaderboards, opening up his winning streak at the competition. He performed eight solid reps, showing that, along with his endurance, he also possesses tremendous upper body strength. Rayno, however, had to share first place with Aivars Šmaukstelis, who performed the same number of reps.
Multiple athletes battled for third place, and four of them ended up in a tie. Hazeleger, Aryee, van der Pas, and Ziółkowski all performed seven reps, meaning that they had to share points.
- Rayno Nel — 8 reps
- Aivars Šmaukstelis — 8 reps
- Kevin Hazeleger — 7 reps
- Evans Aryee — 7 reps
- Angelo van der Pas — 7 reps
- Oskar Ziółkowski — 7 reps
- George Sulaiman — 6 reps
- Andrea Invernizzi — 6 reps
- Dennis Kohlruss — 6 reps
- Kelvin de Ruiter — 5 reps
- Ilya Khazov — 5 reps
- Ervin Toots — 5 reps
- Mika Törrö — No Lift
- Morgan Hill — No Lift
Event Three — Loading Race
Moving onto the third event of the 2024 Strongman Champions League Holland, it was time for athletes to display their agility and quickness in the Loading Race. They were tasked with picking up, carrying three implements for a distance of 9 meters each, and loading them onto the platform. The goal was to complete all three in the quickest time possible. One of the implements weighed 140 kilograms (308.6 pounds), while the other two came out to 100 kilograms (220.5 pounds).
As if it wasn’t impressive enough that Rayno Nel won the first two events of the competition, he continued his winning streak on the third event as well. In fact, his time of 17.63 seconds secured him a fairly comfortable first place, ahead of some quick athletes as well.
Evans Aryee is always contending for the win when it comes to moving events, so it was not a surprise to see him finish in second place with a time of 18.69 seconds. George Sulaiman rounded up the top three, finishing 0.54 seconds behind Aryee.
- Rayno Nel — 3 in 17.63 s
- Evans Aryee — 3 in 18.69 s
- George Sulaiman — 3 in 19.23 s
- Aivars Šmaukstelis — 3 in 19.83 s
- Kelvin de Ruiter — 3 in 19.99 s
- Oskar Ziółkowski — 3 in 20.27 s
- Ervin Toots — 3 in 21.13 s
- Kevin Hazeleger — 3 in 21.54 s
- Dennis Kohlruss — 3 in 23.00 s
- Mika Törrö — 3 in 23.19 s
- Ilya Khazov — 3 in 23.68 s
- Morgan Hill — 3 in 24.09 s
- Andrea Invernizzi — 3 in 24.72 s
- Angelo van der Pas — 3 in 29.50 s
Event Four — Conan’s Wheel
The fourth event of the competition is arguably one of the most difficult ones in the sport of Strongman. Of course, it is none other than Conan’s Wheel, which is notable for the pain that it produces. In this event, the athletes performed a movement similar to a Zercher Carry, but with a thick beam instead of a regular barbell. Moreover, the 320-kilogram (705.5-pound) beam was fixed to a center point, meaning that the athletes walked in circles for the maximum distance possible.
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Continuing to leave everyone in awe, Rayno Nel secured his fourth consecutive win in his debut at the 2024 Strongman Champions League. He performed over 2.5 laps on Conan’s Wheel, beating his closest rival by nearly 100°. This was proof of just how well-rounded Rayno is as a Strongman.
George Sulaiman found himself in no man’s land, beating every other athlete behind him by a significant margin, but still being too far from Rayno to pose a threat. So, he finished in a comfortable second place.
The real battle on the Conan’s Wheel was for third place, since three athletes finished within just 4° of each other. So, it couldn’t have been any closer, but the man who benefited from the situation was Evans Aryee, placing third with a result of 732°.
- Rayno Nel — 978°
- George Sulaiman — 880°
- Evans Aryee — 732°
- Dennis Kohlruss — 731°
- Oskar Ziółkowski — 728°
- Ervin Toots — 679°
- Aivars Šmaukstelis — 652°
- Kelvin de Ruiter — 592°
- Kevin Hazeleger — 589°
- Ilya Khazov — 577°
- Mika Törrö — 559°
- Morgan Hill — 422°
- Angelo van der Pas — 386°
- Andrea Invernizzi — 53°
Event Five — Farmer’s Walk
The penultimate event of the competition was the Farmer’s Walk, once again putting a lot of stress on the athletes’ grip. This was especially tough since some previous events, like the Truck Pull, definitely took a toll on the athletes. Regardless, in this event, they had to pick up two 150-kilogram (330.7-pound) implements and carry them for 40 meters in total.
Following the trend from previous events, Rayno Nel claimed his fifth event win in a row, something that is unheard of for a debut in a high-level competition like this. To make it even more impressive, no one was even close to Rayno on the Farmer’s Walk, as he finished in a time of 17.07 seconds. On the other hand, no other athlete finished with a sub 20-second time.
Aivars Šmaukstelis ended up in second-place, but only after an extremely tight battle against Evans Aryee and Kevin Hazeleger. Aivars finished with a time of 20.81 seconds, while Aryee had to settle for third, crossing the line just 0.18 seconds later. Hazeleger drew the short stick, falling out of the top three despite a highly-competitive time of 21.06 seconds.
- Rayno Nel — 17.07 seconds
- Aivars Šmaukstelis — 20.81 seconds
- Evans Aryee — 20.99 seconds
- Kevin Hazeleger — 21.06 seconds
- George Sulaiman — 22.46 seconds
- Angelo van der Pas — 25.88 seconds
- Mika Törrö — 27.71 seconds
- Andrea Invernizzi — 28.66 seconds
- Oskar Ziółkowski — 29.06 seconds
- Ervin Toots — 29.34 seconds
- Morgan Hill — 34.16 seconds
- Ilya Khazov — 18.25 meters
- Dennis Kohlruss — 4.35 meters
- Kelvin de Ruiter — Withdrew
Event Six — Atlas Stones
The final event of the 2024 Strongman Champions League Holland was the Atlas Stones, and it featured an incredibly heavy series of five implements, ranging in weight from 120-kg (264.5-lb) to 200-kg (440.9-lb). All of the stones had to be loaded onto their respective platforms, but the height of the platforms got lower as the weight of the implements got heavier. The time cap for the event was 90 seconds.
For the first time in the 2024 Strongman Champions League Holland Rayno Nel was not the winner of the event. That honor belonged to Aivars Šmaukstelis, who finished all five implements in just 28.37 seconds. This was enough to secure him second-place overall, but not to threaten Rayno in any way.
George Sulaiman finished the event in second place with a time of 32.28 seconds, while Ilya Khazov placed third with a time of 37.00 seconds. Rayno Nel finished in fifth place, which was still very impressive.
- Aivars Šmaukstelis — 5 in 28.37 s
- George Sulaiman — 5 in 32.28 s
- Ilya Khazov — 5 in 37.00 s
- Evans Aryee — 5 in 37.72 s
- Rayno Nel — 5 in 47.72 s
- Morgan Hill — 5 in 50.46 s
- Kevin Hazeleger — 4 in 22.23 s
- Dennis Kohlruss — 4 in 34.61 s
- Mika Törrö — 4 in 35.12 s
- Oskar Ziółkowski — 4 in 36.86 s
- Angelo van der Pas — 4 in 37.05 s
- Andrea Invernizzi — 4 in 40.30 s
- Ervin Toots — 4 in 58.71 s
Related: 2024 England’s Strongest Man Results — Kane Francis Wins
Rayno Nel has recently turned 29-years-old, so he is just now coming into his peak years for Strongman. However, despite his success at the 2024 Strongman Champions League Holland, he does not have too much experience on the international stage. In fact, he has only been competing for the past few years. Rayno has also been playing rugby in his younger years, which might be the source of his strength and resilience.
Rayno Nel now has three major international appearances, two of which ended in a victory. However, judging by how insanely strong and capable he turned out to be, it is likely that we will soon see him take part in some of the most prestigious competitions in the world.
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