Riku_Kiri

Riku Kiri

Riku Kiri

Finnish former strongman and powerlifter (born 1963)

Riku Kiri (born April 5, 1963 in Kotka, Finland) is a Finnish former strongman and powerlifter, best known for competing in the World's Strongest Man competition, narrowly missing out on capturing the title on more than one occasion. He has been referred to as: "the strongest man never to win World's Strongest Man."[3]

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Having competed in 25 International strongman competitions and winning 11 of them, Kiri is among the 20 most decorated strongmen of all time.[4]

Life and career

The 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in), 145 kg (320 lb) Kiri is particularly noted for his static strength including a 300 kg (661.4 lb) single-arm deadlift and a 302.5 kg (666.9 lbs) raw bench press. He squatted 440 kg in the Dutch Open strongman contest of 1995 in a Smith machine apparatus. He also bench pressed 290.0 kg (639.3 lb) raw in an official WPC meet along with many other records. At 19 years old in 1983, Riku held a World Record in powerlifting in the squat lift in IPF competition, 350 kg (125 kg weight category).

In one of his first ever strongest man contests, he defeated reigning World's Strongest Man winner Jón Páll Sigmarsson, in 1985.

For most of his appearances in World's Strongest Man competition, Kiri has been hampered by ankle injuries. Although Kiri placed 3rd and 2nd respectively in 1993 and 1996, ankle injuries plagued him during both contests. In reference to the Car Carry event in 1993, Kiri's coach, Markku Suonenvirta, famously said: "His ankle is broken but he's a tough guy." Kiri's ankle was in fact not broken but badly injured and weakened. In the 1996 WSM final event (Power Stairs) Kiri was about to go head to head with Magnus Ver Magnusson. However, just after the starter's whistle, Kiri dropped out due to another ankle injury. Kiri was also forced to drop out of the 1998 World's Strongest Man final due to an ankle injury, finishing in 6th place.

His background is in security work, and he holds shares in Gold's Gym-Helsinki.

Powerlifting

Training records:

  • Squat: 400 kilograms (880 lb) raw[5]
  • Bench Press: 302.5 kilograms (667 lb) raw[5]
  • Deadlift: 390 kilograms (860 lb) raw[5]
  • Best deadlift set: 7 x 352.5 kilograms (777 lb), 4 x 380 kilograms (840 lb) raw[5]
  • Total: 1,092.5 kilograms (2,409 lb) raw[5]

References

  1. [1]
    "davidhorne-gripmaster.com". Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  2. [2]
    "Kiri Riku - powerlifting and bench press performances, records, bio, photo, video". Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  3. [3]
    "David Webster speaking to Ironmind on Tuesday, March 21, 2000 Kiri Coming Back... by Randall J. Strossen". Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  4. [4]
    "Athletes, Men". Strongman Archives. 1 July 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  5. [5]
    "Riku Kiri : Conditioning and Strength Training - UFC Videos, MMA Videos, Fight Videos - MMALinker". Retrieved 17 September 2014.
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