By Joe Morris
Charleston Gazette (West Virginia)
Copyright 2006 Charleston Newspapers
It’s official: Charleston firefighter Phil Pfister is the strongest man in the world.
The 35-year-old city native won the MET-Rx World’s Strongest Man contest on Saturday in Sanya, China. The 10-day competition, in its 30th year, pits 25 athletes from around the world in feats of strength like lifting stones and refrigerators, pulling buses and pushing cars.
Going into the last day of competition, Pfister was in second place, well behind reigning champion Mariusz Pudzianowski of Poland.
But he won each of the last five events, overtaking Pudzianowski in points with the final contest: the Atlas Stones. The event, in which competitors must carry a series of spherical stones from one pillar to another, is considered one of Pudzianowski’s best.
“He really fought his way back,” said Randall Strossen, president of IronMind Enterprises Inc., a Nevada City, Calif., strength-training equipment maker and magazine publisher.
Early on, “he was not doing as well as hoped,” said Strossen, who attended the contest. “But in those last events he gave everyone a thorough smacking.”
Strossen said the tide turned for Pfister in the first of the final five events, the Overhead Stone Lift. Pfister successfully lifted all four stones set up, while none of the other nine finalists could muster more than two.
“When it was over, there were the guys who lifted either one or two stones, and then there was Phil Pfister,” he said.
Pfister, who has been competing in strength contests for eight years, was expected to finish no higher than third, said Brandon Walters, a Charleston YMCA trainer who has trained with Pfister.
“I’ve watched him blossom over the years,” Walters said. “He really peaked at the right time.”
Pfister surprised even himself with the victory, said Strossen, who spoke with him on Monday. “He said he still can’t believe it,” Strossen said.
The victory could mean big endorsements for Pfister, since he is the first American to win the contest since 1982. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN2 on Dec. 23, in a six-hour marathon from 6:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.
Pfister has been a Charleston firefighter since 1999. He and wife Michele have one son, Wyatt.
For several years, he trained in a makeshift gym he fashioned in the dilapidated Thomas Jefferson High School building on the corner of Quarrier and Morris streets, Walters said. He used the hallways to practice flipping giant tires, and would often break through the flooring when dropping weights, he said.
In a 2001 interview with the glossy magazine GQ, he committed himself to winning the Strongest Man contest.
“I want to be the world’s strongest man,” he said. “I will be the world’s strongest man. ... Wouldn’t you want to lift a truck if you could?”