In the history of Strongman, we have seen quite a few Icelandic champions, and it is just a matter of time when the next one will rise to fame. So, in order to find out who the strongest person in this country currently is, Magnús Ver Magnússon, Strongman icon and 4x WSM, organized the 2023 Iceland’s Strongest Viking competition. It took place on July 13-16 and challenged nine of the greatest Icelandic Strongman athletes across nine events.
Proving the competitiveness of the roster, the 2023 WSM competitor, Kristján Jón Haraldsson, was beaten by three other athletes. So, it is clear that all of them are of world-class caliber. The greatest one came out to be Vilius Jokužys, who won the title with a very consistent performance across all events.
2023 Iceland’s Strongest Viking Leaderboards
- Vilius Jokužys — 62 points
- Kristján Níelsson — 57.5 points
- Sigfús Fossdal — 55.5 points
- Kristján Jón Haraldsson — 55 points
- Stefán Karel Torfason — 44.5 points
- Theodór Már Gudmundsson — 41.5 points
- Pálmi Gudfinnsson — 39.5 points
- Alexander Andersen — 23.5 points
- Ólafur Haukur Tómasson — 20 points
Related: 2023 Strongest Man In Iceland Full Results — Kristján Jón Haraldsson Defend His Title
Event Results
Conan’s Wheel
The first event of the 2023 Iceland’s Strongest Viking was the Conan’s Wheel, which required the athletes to pick up a 300-kilograms (661.4-pound) beam that pivots around a center point. They then carry it around in a circle for as long as possible, with their final distance being measured when they drop the beam.
Vilius Jokužys had an incredible start to the competition as his distance of 89.35 meters was convincingly the greatest result. The second-place finisher in this event was Alexander Anderson with 76.10 meters covered, while third-place went to Kristján Níelsson with 10.30 meters less.
- Vilius Jokužys — 89.35 meters
- Alexander Andersen — 76.10 meters
- Kristján Níelsson — 65.80 meters
- Theodór Már Gudmundsson — 64.20 meters
- Sigfús Fossdal — 55 meters
- Stefán Karel Torfason — 48.8 meters
- Kristján Jón Haraldsson — 39.3 meters
- Pálmi Gudfinnsson — 35.35 meters
- Ólafur Haukur Tómasson — 5 meters
Viking Press
The second event was basically a standing overhead press on a custom made machine which weighed exactly 150 kilograms (330.7 pounds). With everyone performing the event with the same weight, the goal was to perform as many reps as possible.
Kristján Níelsson jumped to first-place in the Viking Press event with 14 impressive repetitions. Sigfús Fossdal was also great in the second event of the competition, having reached his limit after the 11th repetition. Kristján Jón Haraldsson was the only other man to hit double digits with 10 reps on the Viking Press.
- Kristján Níelsson — 14 reps
- Sigfús Fossdal — 11 reps
- Kristján Jón Haraldsson — 10 reps
- Vilius Jokužys — 7 reps
- Stefán Karel Torfason — 5 reps (Tied-Fifth)
- Ólafur Haukur Tómasson — 5 reps (Tied-Fifth)
- Pálmi Gudfinnsson — 2 reps
- Theodór Már Gudmundsson — 0 reps
- Alexander Andersen — 0 reps
Bag Over Bar
The Bag Over Bar event is often seen in Strongman competitions, but the 2023 Iceland’s Strongest Viking came up with an interesting concept. The athletes only had to throw one sandbag weighing 24 kilograms (52.9 pounds), but the goal was to throw it as high as possible.
Pálmi Gudfinnsson made the huge sandbag look like a toy, having thrown it to a height of 5.55 meters. Kristján Jón Haraldsson and Stefán Karel Torfason tied for second place as they both threw the sandbag over the 5.4-meter high bar.
- Pálmi Gudfinnsson — 5.55 meters
- Kristján Jón Haraldsson — 5.4 meters (Tied-Second)
- Stefán Karel Torfason — 5.4 meters (Tied-Second)
- Vilius Jokužys — 5.25 meters (Tied-Fourth)
- Theodór Már Gudmundsson — 5.25 meters (T-fourth)
- Kristján Níelsson — 4.6 meters
- Sigfús Fossdal — 3.9 meters
- Alexander Andersen — No lift
- Ólafur Haukur Tómasson — No lift
Deadlift Ladder
The fourth event of the 2023 Iceland’s Strongest Viking challenged the athletes with deadlifting progressively heavier weights, but the event was not timed.
Kristján Jón Haraldsson was the only man to reach the 360-kilogram barbell, as many others got stuck on the previous weight. Four men tied for second place by deadlifting 340 kilograms.
- Kristján Jón Haraldsson — 360 kilograms
- Pálmi Gudfinnsson — 340 kilograms (Tied-Second)
- Kristján Níelsson — 340 kilograms (Tied-Second)
- Sigfús Fossdal — 340 kilograms (Tied-Second)
- Stefán Karel Torfason — 340 kilograms (Tied-Second)
- Vilius Jokužys — 320 kilograms
- Theodór Már Gudmundsson — 300 kilograms
- Alexander Andersen — 260 kilograms (Tied-Eighth)
- Ólafur Haukur Tómasson — 260 kilograms (Tied-Eighth)
Mooring Bitt Carry
The Mooring Bitts are heavy metal implements used to dock ships and boats on the pier, but their purpose for the 2023 Iceland’s Strongest Viking was changed. Instead, the athletes had to pick up the 140-kilogram (308.6-pound) implement and carry it for maximum distance.
This event came down to a surprisingly close finish, as less than two meters separated the top three. Theodór Már Gudmundsson was the winner with a distance of 47.15 meters, while Torfason dropped the implement just 0.40 meters before.
- Theodór Már Gudmundsson — 47.15 meters
- Stefán Karel Torfason — 46.75 meters
- Vilius Jokužys — 45.45 meters
- Pálmi Gudfinnsson — 37.27 meters
- Alexander Andersen — 33.1 meters
- Kristján Níelsson — 26.05 meters
- Kristján Jón Haraldsson — 19.63 meters
- Sigfús Fossdal — 19.37 meters
- Ólafur Haukur Tómasson — 0.7 meters
Hercules Hold
The Hercules Hold was a grip event and challenged the participants by holding two leaning pillars on the opposite sides of their body. The weight of the pillars is unknown, but everyone performed the event on the same implement and had to hold them for as long as possible.
Theodór Már Gudmundsson almost held the pillars for a minute which was enough for him to claim max points. However, Vilius Jokužys and Kristján Jón Haraldsson were extremely close to the winner, finishing with just around 5 seconds less than Theodór.
- Theodór Már Gudmundsson — 57.68 seconds
- Vilius Jokužys — 52.26 seconds
- Kristján Jón Haraldsson — 51.59 seconds
- Sigfús Fossdal — 47.36 seconds
- Kristján Níelsson — 46.26 seconds
- Pálmi Gudfinnsson — 44.17 seconds
- Alexander Andersen — 43.28 seconds
- Stefán Karel Torfason — 41.16 seconds
- Ólafur Haukur Tómasson — 17.94 seconds
Front Hold
The Front Hold was yet another endurance event at the 2023 Iceland’s Strongest Viking, since the participants had to hold a 20-kilogram (44-pound) weight in front of them with straight arms.
The time of around one minute was once again enough to win the event, but this time it was Sigfús Fossdal taking max points. Kristján Níelsson was second due to dropping the weight at 54.5 seconds, while Vilius Jokužys rounded up the top three with a time of 50.39 seconds.
- Sigfús Fossdal — 59.12 seconds
- Kristján Níelsson — 54.5 seconds
- Vilius Jokužys — 50.39 seconds
- Ólafur Haukur Tómasson — 49.83 seconds
- Kristján Jón Haraldsson — 48.17 seconds
- Stefán Karel Torfason — 46.92 seconds
- Alexander Andersen — 46.15 seconds
- Pálmi Gudfinnsson — 37.19 seconds
- Theodór Már Gudmundsson — 34.90 seconds
Max Log Lift
The penultimate event of the 2023 Iceland’s Strongest Viking was the simplest of all since the athletes performed a one-rep max on the Log Lift.
Kristján Níelsson singled out as the greatest Log Lifter in the roster with a 175-kilogram overhead press. Sigfús Fossdal was the next in line, having successfully locked out just 5 kilograms less than Nielsson.
- Kristján Níelsson — 175 kilograms
- Sigfús Fossdal — 170 kilograms
- Vilius Jokužys — 160 kilograms (Tied-Third)
- Kristján Jón Haraldsson — 160 kilograms (Tied-Third)
- Stefán Karel Torfason — 150 kilograms
- Ólafur Haukur Tómasson — 140 kilograms
- Pálmi Gudfinnsson — 130 kilograms
- Theodór Már Gudmundsson — 120 kilograms
- Alexander Andersen — 110 kilograms
Natural Stones
Similar to Atlas Stones, the Natural Stones are meant to be picked up and placed on the platform. Four Natural Stones were used at the 2023 Iceland’s Strongest Viking competition, and they weighed from 90 kilograms to 150 kilograms.
Coming into the final event, Vilius Jokužys was the overall leader, but just by 0.5 points. So, he needed an excellent performance in the Natural Stones to take the title. He ended up winning the final event with a time of 24.06 seconds, thus not leaving anything to chance.
- Vilius Jokužys — 4 in 24.06 s
- Sigfús Fossdal — 4 in 31.66 s
- Kristján Jón Haraldsson — 4 in 32.35 s
- Theodór Már Gudmundsson — 4 in 38.94 s
- Kristján Níelsson — 4 in 39.22 s
- Pálmi Gudfinnsson — 3 in 31.42 s
- Stefán Karel Torfason — 3 in 31.63 s
- Alexander Andersen — 3 in 68.42 s
- Ólafur Haukur Tómasson — 2 in 47.69 s
Related: 2022 Iceland’s Strongest Man Results — Kristján Jón Haraldsson Wins
Vilius Jokužys took part in nine major Strongman competitions during the past two years, but this is his first victory. However, he has also taken some podium finishes, proving that he deserved to finally claim a major title.