Strength athletics in Sweden refers to the participation of Swedish competitors and holding national strongman competitions.
Sweden has a long and rich history of strength athletics dating back to the mid 1900s in the sport of Olympic weightlifting with Bo Johansson in the 1960s and 1970s, and several top ranked IPF Powerlifters such as Lars Hedlund and Lars Norén during the 1980s. Sweden has been at the top international level in World's Strongest Man since the very beginning in the late 1970s with Lars Hedlund achieving numerous podium finishes. Sweden struggled through the 1980s and early 1990s until the arrival of Magnus Samuelsson in 1995. Samuelsson would go on to win the 1998 World's Strongest Man, Sweden's only WSM title. Magnus continued to win major international contests and be a top podium finisher at WSM until his retirement in 2008. In recent years, Johannes Årsjö has continued to maintain Sweden's top position on the international scene with numerous podium finishes at major international contests.
| Sweden's Strongest Man | |
| Location: | Sweden |
| Establishment: | 1995 |
| Format: | Multi-event competition |
| Current Champion: |  Fredrik Johansson (2024) |
Sweden's Strongest Man (sv|Sveriges Starkaste Man) is an annual Strongman competition held in Sweden and featuring exclusively Swedish athletes, to determine who the strongest Swede of the year is.
Magnus Samuelsson and Johannes Årsjö have both won the competition 9 times, thus sharing the record for most wins.
The competition has been held every year since 1995 and has produced nine champions over the years.[1]
| Year | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | ||||
| 1996 | Jorma Paananen | Torbjörn Samuelsson | ||
| 1997 | Torbjörn Samuelsson | |||
| 1998 | Torbjörn Samuelsson[2] | Jorma Paananen | ||
| 1999 | Jorma Paananen | Torbjörn Samuelsson | ||
| 2000 | Anders Johansson | |||
| 2001 | Anders Johansson | |||
| 2002 | Anders Johansson | Jorma Paananen | ||
| 2003 | Kalle Lane | |||
| 2004 | Benny Wennberg | |||
| 2005 | Anders Johansson | Robert Brolin | ||
| 2006 | Anders Johansson | Björn Andersson | Tomas Karlsson | |
| 2007 | Anders Johansson | Daniel Wiklund | ||
| 2008 | Anders Johansson | Peter Rundberg | Stefan Bergqvist | |
| 2009 | Anders Johansson | Mikael Hoffner | ||
| 2010 | Peter Rundberg | |||
| 2011 | Martin Forsmark | Stefan Bergqvist | ||
| 2012 | Sebastian Davidsson | Martin Forsmark | ||
| 2013 | Sebastian Davidsson | David Nyström | ||
| 2014 | Martin Forsmark | David Nyström | ||
| 2015 | Martin Forsmark | Johnny Hansson | ||
| 2016 | Martin Forsmark | Joachim Gustavsson | ||
| 2017 | Martin Forsmark | Johnny Hansson | ||
| 2018[3] | Martin Forsmark | Johan Espenkrona | ||
| 2019 | Martin Forsmark | Andreas Ståhlberg | Johan Espenkrona | |
| 2020 [4] | Johnny Hansson | Martin Forsmark | Fredrik Svensson | |
| 2021 | Marcus Yngvesson | Johan Espenkrona | Fredrik Svensson | |
| 2022 | Andreas Ståhlberg | Johnny Hansson | Joachim Kvick | |
| 2023 | Fredrik Johansson | Marcus Yngvesson | Cim Johansson | |
| 2024 | Fredrik Johansson | Cim Johansson | Marcus Yngvesson |
| Champion | Times & years | |
|---|---|---|
| 9 (1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005) | ||
| 9 (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) | ||
| Anders Johansson | 3 (2006, 2007, 2008) | |
| 2 (1998, 2002) | ||
| Martin Forsmark | 2 (2018, 2019) | |
| Fredrik Johansson | 2 (2023, 2024) |
Nordic Strongman Championships consists of athletes from Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.[5]
| Year | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 |  Juha-Matti Räsänen | ||
| 2012 | Mikkel Leicht | ||
| 2013 |  Ole Martin Hansen | Juha-Matti Järvi | |
Sweden was also the venue for several Giants Live grand prix competitions with the participation of top athletes of the world. The competitions were named Giants Live Sweden/ Scandinavian Open.
| Year | Champion | Runner-Up | 3rd Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Martin Forsmark | ||
| 2015 |  Mark Felix | ||
| 2016 | Martin Forsmark | Mark Felix | |
| 2017 | Johnny Hansson | Žydrūnas Savickas | |