Xmas WSM 2019

Rick said:Some random thoughts, having watched the lot today and yesterday:

I was really happy to see the same events in ever hear, until they f**ked it by changing from log to circus dumbbell for the last two heats. WHY? ar****les.

I think Novikov was absolutely robbed. Two reps turned down in the deadlift and one in the press, all of which were as legit as many others imo. Should have been Shaw in that stone-off, and that would have been very interesting.

Licis was awesome, and what a great advertisement for the sport he is. Every bit as marketable as Mariusz was.

Were the finals normally five events? Seemed short to me.

Eddie was an excellent presenter, no surprise to anybody who's been watching Eddie Eats America (which I recommend, he's a natural presenter, and it's fun). I'd love to see Eddie and Loz not only presenting but doing the commentary in future. Be nice to have some actual expertise, wouldn't it.

PaulSavage said:
Pretty much all novikos deadlift reps looked like shoddy lockouts and he literally did 6 inch less than everybody else and in 6 inch better position. Why not just have a 2 foot long strap and lift the bar 2 inch if it's allowed? Everyone would do that if it was but it's obviously against the rules. He was clearly not stable with the dumbbell either, the only time he stopped moving for a a split second he was losing the dumbbell behind him so wasn't in control, that's why he had to walk backwards. This was the the same for all athletes, not just him, the rules are you have to have feet inline with the implement locked out and under control. For all Brian's reps he was completely stable because he has stronger core / more bodyweight.
Don't get me wrong as I'm a Martin's fan for sure and he did great on the deadlift and stones and was definitely in great shape but the contest was literally designed for him to win. Basically on his door step with all his best events at the best weights for him and they even put weak events or what they thought was weak events for who they knew would push him the most on those events. The 1st of 2 medleys they put on sand so the bodyweight of guys like Thor and Shaw would hinder them and they made he implements lighter to suit Martin's more. The overhead medley again they made light so it would suit Martin's more. They then startegicaly put the squat next, obviously for reps as Martin's is known to be very good at squat for reps but also because they knew it was likely only kila would beat him on the overhead medley and they didn't think he had a good squat so essentially Martin's was going last knowing the number to beat. They then put a grip hold event in because again Martin's is known for his grip strength and at that point they thought both kila and thor had weaker grips and would drop points, and they knew Martin's would win the squat so be out last knowing the time to beat. Also from everythimg seen on social media he knew the events well before other athletes, other athletes such as Shaw actually found out some of the events from watching Martin's YouTube. If you look back you can see he was putting big emphasis on squat, stones and grip for a number of months and then he was training the overhead medley with double dumbbells even. He obviously knew the events a long while before world's, maybe for several months (his training sure did fit the final events perfectly if not) and the other athletes were saying they didn't know the events even a month or weeks from he comp, Thor, Shaw etc
Again, I'm a Martin's fan, but that was a crock of s**t, there was almost no possible way he could lose.

oggy22 said:
Totally agree with all of the above. It was designed to take it away from the big guys (Thor & Shaw) maybe they've had enough of them dominating. Things like putting the loading race on sand doesn't help anything - how is that really testing strength by just making it more difficult for bigger men to run on? They wouldn't put truck pull on sand would they!!
the DL hold was pathetic in a WSM final - it should have been max DL or log in the final!
I hope next year they revert back to some of the old format - go back to 6 events, get rid of the playoff showdown which regardless of this DL technique, absolutely robbed Navikov of a place in the final - top 2 in every event and then loses after putting a 180kg atlas stone over a bar 13 times because the other guy is bigger and better at that particular event!! Pathetic!! That's simply a stamina thing and usually easier for the bigger man to pop it over the bar while a 'smaller' man has to struggle more to get it over each time.

PeteHodgson said:
Ban figure of 8 straps or ref properly.