A milestone for a young strong man.
Pavlo Kordiyaka is the 2023 Europe’s Strongest Man (ESM) Champion. The Ukrainian strongman prevailed in the competition of 13 athletes, in which the strongest active athletes of European descent took part. The prestigious competition took place on April 1, 2023 in Leeds, England and finally saw Kordiyaka crowned as its king.
Former ESM champion and fellow Ukrainian Oleksii Novikov took second place. Notably, Novikov suffered from a minor lat muscle injury that may have contributed to his failure to defend his title. According to Strongman Archives, despite the injury and second place, it is Novikov’s eighth podium in his last nine competitions since early 2022. Rounding out this year’s ESM podium was 2022 World Strongman Championships (WSC) winner Aivars Šmaukstelis of Latvia in third place . It is Šmaukstelis’ seventh consecutive podium finish, dating back to August 2022.
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ESM 2023 comprised five events in this order:
To celebrate his win, Kordiyaka won the Log Press Ladder (five lifts in 52.55 seconds), the Load and Push Race (a time of 44.14 seconds), and the Conan’s Wheel (with a 1009-degree spin; almost three complete revolutions) . This rotation length is a new world record on the Conan’s Wheel. Kordiyaka recorded three reps of the 800-pound deadlift in one minute for sixth place. The athlete finished second on the Castle Stones (a variant of the Atlas Stones) when he lifted all five in 21.76 seconds. Only Šmaukstelis did better (five in 20.47 seconds).
Here are the ESM 2023 final standings:
2023 Europe’s Strongest Man final standings
- Pavlo Kordiaka (Ukraine) — 57.5 points
- Oleksii Novikov (Ukraine) — 53.5 points
- Aivars Šmaukstelis (Latvia) — 51.5 points
- Eythór Ingólfsson Melsted (Iceland) — 45.5 points
- Adam Bishop (UK) — 41.5 points
- Shane Flowers (UK) — 37 points
- Pa O’Dwyer (Ireland) — 36.5 points
- Konstantine Janashia (Georgia) — 30.5 points
- Dennis Kohlruss (Germany) — 26 points
- Paul Smith (UK) — 25.5 points
- Gavin Bilton (UK) — 17.5 points
- Jean Stephen Coraboeuf (France) — 16.5 points
- Graham Hicks (UK) — 8 points
According to Strongman Archives, this ESM triumph could arguably be the best of Kordiyaka’s career to date. The 27-year-old also boasts wins at Ukraine’s Strongest Man 2020 (USM), Official Strongman Games 2021 (OSG) and Marijampole International 2022. His best ESM finish to date was a fourth-place debut in 2022.
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Kordiyaka will next compete at the 2023 World’s Strongest Man (WSM) April 19-23, 2023 in Myrtle Beach, SC. In his WSM debut in 2022, he did not make it to the finals. The momentum of his 2023 ESM win could see Kordiyaka thriving on this next opportunity.
Featured Image: @pavlo_kordiyaka on Instagram
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