The 2020 winner positioned third within the 2023 contest in South Carolina.
2020 World’s Strongest Man (WSM) winner Oleksii Novikov hoped to hitch the listing of two-time champions on the 2023 WSM contest in Myrtle Seashore, SC. Nevertheless, he completed in third place behind champion Mitchell Hooper and runner-up Tom Stoltman.
On Could 8, 2023, Novikov shared a 42-minute video on his YouTube channel recapping his WSM week. The previous champion reviewed his efficiency by the competition’s 11 occasions. Nevertheless, one key piece of data he shared could shed some mild on his stunning third-place end within the Circus Dumbbell event on the ultimate day of competitors. Novikov has historically dominated that difficult overhead press in earlier competitions and set an unofficial world file lifting 153.2 kilograms (337.8 kilos) whereas coaching in 2021.
Novikov revealed that he competed within the 2023 WSM with an elbow damage suffered in coaching, although he didn’t focus on a selected prognosis. Novikov spoke in Ukrainian and the captions confirmed the English translation. He spoke concerning the damage on the 30:36 mark within the video under.
Novikov suffered the damage in training whereas performing the Circus Dumbbell with weights heavier than what he would finally carry within the contest — on the 2023 WSM, Novikov was solely in a position to efficiently press 132.5 kilograms (291 kilos) overhead. He shared that he initially thought it was easy elbow ache and fewer severe than it truly was.
“Within the final coaching session [before the WSM contest], I lifted 144 kilograms (317 kilos). At 148 kilograms (326 kilos), I didn’t get the lockout. And through all these processes, I received an damage which I didn’t pay a lot consideration to. Just a few elbow ache. I stored coaching and solely then seen this challenge with my elbow.
The elbow misplaced its perform at full extension and activating the place it has to activate. And resulting from that, there have been issues with the lockout. And that’s why locking out heavy weights turned an issue for me … Don’t know whether or not I want a surgical procedure or not, however I’ll definitely care for my elbow,” he mentioned.
He felt the problems with lockouts have been why he struggled through the dumbbell occasion on the final day of competitors. He’s unsure whether or not or not he’ll want surgical procedure, however Novikov made it sound as if that’s a minimum of being thought-about.
Novikov realized that this challenge and the results of that occasion might’ve very nicely price him the title in South Carolina.
“My signature occasion turned an Achilles heel for me. For me, that’s an upset for certain and it introduced me down, mentally, a little bit.”
Novikov additionally assessed that his points for the competitors went past bodily issues. Many athletes really feel sports activities are as a lot psychological as they’re bodily, and Novikov is not any totally different. Listening to and studying feedback that recommended he ‘win or not come again’ as a means of encouragement could have backfired.
“You all need me to win, and I additionally need that. I assume not lower than you, however it places some type of stress on me that I begin pondering that it’s tremendous vital, and I plan my efficiency the way in which like ‘both win or nothing.’ And when some type of drawback happens, like with the [Reign Total Body Fuel Shield Carry event], it hurts me mentally, and, general, it turns into laborious to concentrate on the subsequent occasions.”
Novikov additionally shared that he’ll take time off to let his physique recuperate from the competitions he’s already entered this yr, in addition to to permit his elbow to heal whether or not he has surgical procedure or not.
Novikov had additionally suffered a lat injury earlier within the yr main as much as the 2023 Europe’s Strongest Man contest. Clearly, an athlete of Novikov’s caliber has world-class ranges of energy each within the muscle and thoughts, however time to rebuild and refocus may very well be what he must put himself in the most effective place to succeed going ahead. He didn’t reveal what his subsequent contest will likely be or if he’ll do one other present in 2023.
Featured Picture: Todd Burandt / Courtesy of World’s Strongest Man
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