Friday 9th of May I had hard battle in Hämeenlinna, Finland. There were 8 girls from Finland, Norway and Island, 4 of them were under 70kg series. I competed in open series and all were fighting from same points.  First event was log lift, last woman standing. Start from 50 kg with 5 kg raises. I was not good at this and placing was 4th with another competitor.

Second was deadlift last woman standing. Suits and straps allowed. Start from 150kg with 10kg raises. This was wonderful. To 200kg was so easy to lift. 2 more girls made also 200. Then 210 made one girl beside me. She said she won’t continue. Judge asked did I want 5kg or 10kg. I chose 5 and made easy lift with 215. 🙂

3rd event was medley farmers walk 2 x 85kg and sleg drag, distance about 18m x 2. Farmers went well and drag not bad either. I came second. After 3 events I was 3rd, only 1,5 points from leader.

4th event arm over arm, pulling WW Amarok about 15 m. Even that I made some mistakes I was second again.

5th event tyre lift. Tyre abut 250kg, 6 times lift. Again something bad mistakes, but still I was 2nd. I only wonder what would it be if I trained this event some more!

Last event sack 70kg carry for distance. Unfortunately memory of my camera came full and I cannot show you the hardest part. One round was 36m, three first round were easy. After that I started to take breath after every 18 metres. When I had made 5 rounds, my coach told me to make one more. It was really hard and I almost were quiting, but my 6 year old son came to yell loud near me. ”Don’t give up mom!!!” Also all other audience were yelling. So I took my last power I got and ran last 21 metres. I fell down after carried 219metres. And won this event.

At final scores I was the WINNER of open class and overall! Only 0,5 points from 2nd placing. Hard competition but good one.

My next competition is 8th June Finland’s Strongest Woman, that will come on TV. So more action is coming 😉

Niina

My last competition was Arnold Strongwoman World Championship at Arnold Sport Festival, in Columbus, Ohio, on February 28th.

I compete in the open division, because I could never make myself go under 68kg. I ended my earlier competition at US Women’s World Championships  3 months ago in the 4th place.

I was honoured to have the opportunity to compete at Arnold’s. This competition for women was organized for the first time at Arnold’s and I was the only athlete from Finland in my division. In three other divisions there were 3 other Finnish athletes besides me. I had 13 girls to beat -wasn’t scared of losing the game but I couldn’t expect any heroic feats either.

This was my first journey to the United Stated and it was worth it. I really enjoyed it. The competition was well organized. Schedules were on time with all the events and over 90 competitors. All athletes were really tough and strong women and men. Even though I broke some of my personal records, I couldn’t reach the top. But I performed well in some events and I can be happy about that. At farmer’s walk 2 x 100kg, I did well and finished 5th. In deadlift medley I also gave it my all and I enjoyed doing the event, even though I thought the weight was too easy. I had been training deadlift with heavier weight. ( You can see my earlier training video on Pro-Am’s web page). Although my coach  gave me good advice, I made some small mistakes, which bother me. Without those mistakes my final placement could have been better. In the final scores I was 7th. It was only 2 points from top four final. I will never make those mistakes again.

Now I am looking forward to the next competition. ”I’ll be back”

Niina