2006 World's Strongest Man - Final

Final

Mariusz Pudzianowski, the reigning champion, started well in the final. He was joint first with Mark Felix in the Dead Lift, with 16 lifts and won the power stairs in 26.33 seconds, almost 8 seconds faster than second placed Tarmo Mitt. The power stairs proved a tough task for others though, Raivis Vidzis coped the worst but managed to carry on. In the 3rd event, the overhead stone lift, Phil Pfister dominated and lifted all 4 stones, while no other competitor could lift more than 2. The top 5 after the first day of the final was:

# Name Nationality Pts
1 Mariusz Pudzianowski Poland 28.5
2 Mark Felix UK 21.5
3 Phil Pfister USA 21
4 Tarmo Mitt Estonia 17
5 Don Pope USA 17

Pfister dramatically closed the gap to Pudzianowski in the 2 events on day 2 of the final as he won both of them. Pudzianowski struggled to 6th in the Fingal Fingers, while Pfister set a world record time of 5 fingers in 31.92 second and in the bus pull Pfister managed to pull his bus just 12 centimetres further than Pudzianowski to leave himself 1.5 points behind the leader. The top 5 after the second day of the final was:

# Name Nationality Pts
1 Mariusz Pudzianowski Poland 42.5
2 Phil Pfister USA 41
3 Don Pope USA 32
4 Mark Felix UK 30.5
5 Tarmo Mitt Estonia 27

Despite having won 3 events in a row, many people expected Pfister to struggle in the Car Walk and he needed something special once Pudzianowski had set a time of 27.4 seconds and amazingly Pfister beat it by just over half a second, meaning the 2006 WSM would go right down to the wire in the Atlas Stones, with just half a point separating them. The Atlas Stones proved to be extremely tight but Pfister just edged Pudzianowski and let out a great celebratory roar as a devastated Pudzianowski let his 5th stone roll off the platform. Don Pope recovered well to finish 3rd having come last in the first event. The final results:

# Name Nationality Pts
1 Phil Pfister USA 61
2 Mariusz Pudzianowski Poland 57.5
3 Don Pope USA 45
4 Mark Felix UK 38.5
5 Tarmo Mitt Estonia 38
6 Sebastian Wenta Poland 36.5
7 Terry Hollands United Kingdom 30
8 Jarek Dymek Poland 29
9 Raivis Vidzis Latvia 26
10 Slawek Toczek Poland 20.5

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