The planned return of the legendary Fortissimus strongman competition will have to wait another year.
The Plantagenet Bean Festival, which was slated to host the third edition of Fortissimus last September, has announced its cancellation for the second year in a row.
Official dates had not yet been announced for the third edition of Fortissimus, but its founder and promoter Paul Ohl had hoped to be able to stage the competition in September. However, Mr. Ohl confirmed on Wednesday morning that Fortissimus would not be happening in 2021.
"It would be impossible to hold the competition to the standards that are expected of it, in spite of all the strength competitions held elsewhere on the globe", he told Strongman Archives.
The province of Ontario, where the Plantagenet Bean Festival was due to be held, has been struggling with the third wave of COVID-19 recently, logging over 3 000 new cases per day this week. Preventive measures are still in place across Canada, making it very difficult to organize an international strongman contest.
Despite this second setback in as many years, Paul Ohl told Strongman Archives that the organizing team remains hopeful. "Nothing can shatter the morale of our troops!" he added.
A Long Absence
The first two editions of Fortissimus were held in 2008 and 2009, and they cemented the competition's legacy among strongman fans. Fortissimus is known for its unique format: 10 heavy events held over two days, featuring heavy implements and historic lifts such as the Back Lift and the Cyr Dumbbell. The
2008 edition featured Derek Poundstone's incredible triumph over Žydrūnas Savickas, with the American being the only man to lift the 241 kg Louis Cyr stone to seal the win. In
2009, however, Savickas prevailed over Poundstone in a thrilling competition.
After the 2009 show, Paul Ohl mentioned to Dr. Randall J. Strossen, of IronMind, that the organizers could not and would not settle for less than what was accomplished in 2008 and 2009. Unfortunately, a split between Mr. Ohl and Canada World Strength, which played an important role in putting together the first two editions of Fortissimus, meant that the strongman contest was not held in subsequent years.
Nevertheless, a comeback was always on the cards. Paul Ohl kept the Fortissimus name alive throughout the years and in 2019, the third edition of the contest was announced for September 2020. Sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic had other plans, and the competition was pushed back to 2021. Now, its organizers will start looking at 2022 for the big return of Fortissimus.
