Halkirk athlete qualifies for Under-80kg World Strongest Man Championship
Andrew Nicolson has proven he is among the strongest men on the planet as he has qualified to take part in the Under-80kg World Strongest Man Championship.
The 29-year-old from Halkirk has been selected to take part in the competition which is due to take place in Wisconsin in the United States in December.
The wind turbine technician has taken part in a number of strongman competitions in the UK and abroad over the years as he has built up an impressive reputation.
Now he is preparing to take on the top 40 strongest men for his weight category in the world in what will be the biggest challenge of his career so far.
Nicolson, who is originally from Sibster, was selected to compete at the tournament after sending in video footage of himself taking part in various challenges.
He impressed the judges to be selected for the event and is now preparing himself for the competition.
He said: “I ended up doing an online qualifier, where any athlete from across the world can enter and you have to do four events. Then I had to upload my video and show proof that the weight and the distance for each event is correct.
“They then picked the top 10 across the world who took part in the online qualifiers and I was one one of them.
“There were also qualifiers throughout the year on each continent which included Scotland’s Strongest Man where the winner would automatically qualify for the final.
Nicolson, who also played rugby, has been competing in strongman competitions for six years when he was encouraged by fellow strongman competitor Kevin MacGregor to take part.
He trains in Caithness and has gone from competing in car parks around Britain to competing in venues/gyms across the world.
He has competed in Scotland’s Strongest Man, Britain's Strongest Man and even a natural strongman federation final in Finland.
He said: “I bumped into Kevin MacGregor one night and he asked me to go and do strongman events back in 2018. I took part in John O’Groats Strongman and I got hooked from there and went on to take part in competitions.
“I have competed in Finland in a world finals in a different federation in 2022 and came fourth. I was also back to back Scottish and British champion in Britain’s Natural Strongest Man. I stepped away from that federation into the official Strongest Man federation which is bigger and higher quality.”
Among the events Nicolson will be taking part in will include log press, axle bar deadlift and a yoke carry, which will involve carrying a car on his shoulders.
Nicolson trains at Mill Fitness in Wick who are also sponsoring him as well as at a barn to help him prepare for strongman competition.
He hopes he can achieve a good placing at the event and carry on Scotland’s good reputation in Strongman.
He said: “Scotland has a good reputation at the moment in strongman events under-80kg world champion is Scottish at the moment.
“There will be up to 40 athletes competing from across the world so if I can get into the top half of that, that would be nice.”
Nicolson is also looking for sponsorship to help him compete at the Under-80kg World Championship and be contacted at Andrew.nicolson1@hotmail.com
