Strongman Super Series

The Strongman Super Series, now known as the World's Strongest Man Super Series, is a sequence of grand prix events in the sport of strength athletics. It was introduced in 2001 in response to concerns that, unlike other individual sports such as golf or tennis, there was no recognized international "tour" in strength athletics. The Strongman Super Series ensures that there are a number of high-profile, professionally run contests during the year, with competitors' placings being used to decide the overall Super Series Champion.

Typically, ten to twelve athletes take part in each GP, comprising the top six in the international rankings and at least four qualifiers or wildcard entries. The winner of each grand prix receives ten series points, the second placed, nine, and so on. The highest scoring competitor at the end of the series is named World Champion.

World Class Events ("WCE") ran the Super Series and signed a deal with TWI (the world’s largest independent producer and distributor of sports programming) to have the exclusive rights worldwide to be the only qualifying tour to the MET-Rx World's Strongest Man event for 2006-2008.^[1] The top four athletes from each Grand Prix competition receive an automatic invitation to WSM.

Super Series World Champions

Year	Athlete	Nationality
2001	Magnus Samuelsson	Sweden
2002	Hugo Girard	Canada
2003/4	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Poland
2004/5	Zydrunas Savickas	Lithuania
2005*	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Poland
2006*	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Poland
2007*	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Poland
2008*	Derek Poundstone	United States

*WSM Super Series

2001

Eight elite competitors were selected by IFSA to compete in all events of the grand prix series. They were:

Additional athletes were selected on a per-event basis.^[2] Points were awarded based on the position in the event, in the following manner: 1st:6; 2nd:5; 3rd:4; 4th:3; 5th:2; and 6th:1.

Year	Champion	Runner-Up	3rd Place	Location
Holland Grand Prix 2001	Wout Zijlstra	Magnus Samuelsson	Svend Karlsen
Czech Grand Prix 2001 (Hammer Strength) (August 2001)^[3]	Hugo Girard	Svend Karlsen	Magnus Samuelsson	Prague
Stockholm Grand Prix 2001 (27th October)	Magnus Samuelsson	Hugo Girard	Svend Karlsen	Scandinavian Fitness Expo in Älvsjö, Stockholm
Overall placings	Magnus Samuelsson (15pts)	Hugo Girard (13pts)	Svend Karlsen (13pts)	Stockholm

Notes

Wout Zijlstra of The Netherlands was in fourth place on 9pts.^[4]
The Scottish Grand Prix 2001 (21st/22nd July) )also called World Muscle Power 2001) was not one of the Super Series Grand Prix's in the 2001 series. (The results of this, held in Mintlaw) were 1st:Hugo Girard, 2nd: Svend Karlsen.

2002

Year	Champion	Runner-Up	3rd Place	Location
Aberdeen Grand Prix (World Muscle Power 2002)	Svend Karlsen	Hugo Girard	Janne Virtanen	Aberdeen
Sweden Grand Prix 2002 (Hammer Strength)	Hugo Girard	Svend Karlsen	Zydrunas Savickas	Sweden
Hawaii Grand Prix Final (held in Jan 2003) (24-Hour Fitness Grand Prix Final)	Hugo Girard	Zydrunas Savickas	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Hawaii
Overall placings	Hugo Girard	Svend Karlsen	Zydrunas Savickas	Canada

2003/04

Year	Champion	Runner-Up	3rd Place	Location
Hawaii Grand Prix 2003	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Raimonds Bergmanis	Zydrunas Savickas	Hawaii
Holland Grand Prix 2003	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Zydrunas Savickas	Jorma Hamms	Holland
Canada Grand Prix 2003	Hugo Girard	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Svend Karlsen	Canada
Finland Grand Prix 2003	Hugo Girard	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Raimonds Bergmanis	Finland
Arnold's Strongest Man and Grand Prix Final 2003/4	Zydrunas Savickas	Svend Karlsen	Raimonds Bergmanis	Columbus, Ohio
Overall placings	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Zydrunas Savickas	Raimonds Bergmanis	Poland

Super Series 2004/2005

Year	Champion	Runner-Up	3rd Place	Location
Moscow Grand Prix	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Zydrunas Savickas	Vasyl Virastyuk	Moscow
Sweden Grand Prix	Magnus Samuelsson	Zydrunas Savickas	Svend Karlsen	Sweden

WSM Super Series 2005

Year	Champion	Runner-Up	3rd Place	Location
Met-Rx Grand Prix	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Jesse Marunde	Janne Virtanen	Muscle Beach
Nautilus Grand Prix	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Slawomir Toczek	Jesse Marunde	Poland
Vulkan Grand Prix	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Janne Virtanen	Jesse Marunde	Sweden
Mohegan Sun Grand Prix	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Jessen Paulin	Don Pope	Mohegan Sun
Overall placings	Mariusz Pudzianowski	TBC	TBC

WSM Super Series 2006

Year	Champion	Runner-Up	3rd Place	Location
Moscow Grand Prix	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Elbrus Nigmatullin	Jessen Paulin	Russia
Poland Grand Prix	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Jarek Dymek	Sebastian Wenta	Poland
Mohegan Sun Grand Prix	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Jesse Marunde	Josh Thigpen	Mohegan Sun
Overall placings	Mariusz Pudzianowski	TBC	TBC

WSM Super Series 2007

Year	Champion	Runner-Up	3rd Place	Location
Mohegan Sun Grand Prix	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Kevin Nee	Mark Felix	Mohegan Sun
Venice Beach Super Series	Dave Ostlund	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Jesse Marunde	Venice Beach
Viking Power Super Series 2007	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Jarek Dymek	Magnus Samuelsson	Norway
Overall placings	Mariusz Pudzianowski	TBC	TBC

WSM Super Series 2008

Year	Champion	Runner-Up	3rd Place	Location
Mohegan Sun Grand Prix	Derek Poundstone	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Terry Hollands	Mohegan Sun
Madison Square Garden Super Series	Travis Ortmayer	Derek Poundstone	Dave Ostlund	Madison Square Garden
Viking Power Super Series 2008	Arild Haugen	Sebastian Wenta	Richard Skog	Storefjell
Sweden Super Series	Magnus Samuelsson	Tarmo Mitt	Richard Skog	Sweden
Overall placings	Derek Poundstone

Events from 2001 to 2006 from Archive of www.super-series.com

References

External links

Official website

[1] WCE AND TWI SHOW STRENGTH IN PARTNERSHIP

[2] IFSA Grand Prix Competitors Named . . . by Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. | ©2008 IronMind

[3] Girard Wins IFSA Prague Super Series by Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. | ©2008 IronMind

[4] Sweden's Strongest Man site

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