Jackie Osczevski from Martensville competed November 11-13th in Daytona Beach, FL at the Official Strongman Games World Championship. The event which was originally supposed to be a three-day spectacular was condensed into two days due to Hurricane Nicole.
Day one consisted of the original four events all crammed into a 13-hour day. All 400 athletes both male and female had to compete for a shot at the top ten and a berth in the finals. In the Open Women’s Weight Class there were a total of 32 athletes which was 13 more athletes than the previous 2021 Worlds Championship. Osczevski did very well on day one with all four events.
The first event was a 235lb Viking Press with the apparatus loaded with Kegs to get the appropriate weight. Osczevski finished in a tie for 13th after completing three repetitions, compared to last year’s Worlds where she zeroed the event.
The second event was a 270lb per hand farmers carry for 100 feet. Osczevski finished the run in 20.21 seconds which was good for 4th place.
The third event was a 480lb axle deadlift for reps. Every competitor had 45 seconds to complete as many reps as possible. Osczevski was able to get a personal record on this event with six reps and another top ten finish in an event at 9th.
The fourth event was a sandbag to shoulder medley where competitors had 45 seconds to lift four sandbags ascending in weight to their shoulder and show control before getting a down command and able to move onto the next bag. Open women had 200lb, 225lb, 250lb, and 275lb bags. Osczevski was able to get three out of four bags before running out of time cleaning the final bag up. This event was a huge hurdle for Osczevski as during training she suffered a neck injury, but with the help of local physiotherapy and chiropractor treatments, she was able to overcome this injury and finish 4th and punch her ticket to the finals tied for 6th.
The finals consisted of three events on the second day with the entire athlete roster being trimmed to the top 10. With less people, the ability to move up and down is harder as these are the best in the world and every second counts even more.
The first event in the finals was a 700lb car walk for 50 feet similar to a yoke, but the weight is placed differently and this caused Osczevski to have some balance issues, however, was able to finish the walk in 33 seconds which scored her 9th in the event.
The second event in the finals was a circus dumbbell medley with ascending weights, where athletes had to clean a 10” to 12” dumbbell up to their shoulder and then press it with one hand. There were four dumbbells in the medley weighing 100lbs, 120lbs, 140lbs, and 160lbs. Osczevski’s goal for this event was to press and lock out the 140lb dumbbell but managed to get two of the four and placed 6th in the event.
Finals event three was the famous Atlas stones, which consisted of six stones on a descending platform with ascending weight. The stones weighed 200lbs, 225lbs, 250lbs, 275lbs, 300lbs, and the final stone weight was 325lbs. Athletes had 60 seconds to complete this run. Osczevski stated that her all-time best was a 295lb stone before this contest and managed to get five out of six stones onto the platform when the whistle blew while trying to lift the final stone. This solidified her for 7th place in the world and put Martensville and Saskatchewan on the map.
“All in all, what an amazing experience! I am so excited for Worlds next year! I have no doubt I will be climbing that placing and I have my eyes set for top 5 or the podium. As an athlete, I think I’d be really happy with both,” said Osczevski.
When asked what was next for Osczevski she stated, “I have a few events lined up in the next four months. I have a handful of clients looking to max out their main compound lifts on New Year’s Eve. I am hosting a Rookie Strongman competition at the end of February, and I am competing at the Pro Arnold Strongwoman Stage in Columbus Ohio the first weekend of March!!”
“I am so thankful for the love and support of the community that helped fundraise and get me to Worlds this year! You guys have no idea what that meant to me. I was blown away by the love and support Aaron and I were given: a chance to represent Canada, and our small city of Martensville, on one of the biggest Strongman stages in the entire world!”