Hjalti Árnason (born 18 February 1963), nicknamed Hjalti Úrsus, is an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic former

strongman In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or similar circus performers who performed feats of strength. More recently, strength athletics, also known as strongman competitions, have grown in popularity. Thes ...

competitor and world champion

powerlifter Powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight single-lift effor ...

. Hjalti was known by the nickname "The Great Ursus". He first began in strength sports by competing as a junior powerlifter representing Iceland in 1983. Hjalti coached the great

Jón Páll Sigmarsson Jón Páll Sigmarsson (28 April 1960 – 16 January 1993) was an Icelandic strongman, powerlifter and bodybuilder who was the first man to win the World's Strong ...

and competed alongside

Magnús Ver Magnússon Magnús Ver Magnússon (born 23 April 1963) is an Icelandic former powerlifter and strongman competitor. He is a four-time World's Strongest Man, having won in 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest strongmen of ...

in a team strength competition called

Pure Strength Pure Strength was a strongman competition held from 1987 to 1990 which was created by Tjalling van den Bosch. Event History The first year of the event was known as "Pure Strength Challenge" and it was a single man competition featuring only Bil ...

in 1989 & 1990.

Biography

Hjalti Árnason was born in

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

in 1963.David Webster, ''Sons of Samson - Volume 2'', pages 71-2, (Ironmind Enterprises Inc: Nevada City), He grew up in the same neighbourhood as

Jón Páll Sigmarsson Jón Páll Sigmarsson (28 April 1960 – 16 January 1993) was an Icelandic strongman, powerlifter and bodybuilder who was the first man to win the World's Strong ...

and they attended the same school, although Jón Páll was three years older. His sports career began with training in karate and he participated in many others such as soccer, handball, and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

. He had a talent for powerlifting and shot to fame when he began competing internationally from 1983. In that year, he came first in the Junior European Championships and made the senior national team. Quickly though, he began to compete in

events to make a living as a semi-professional. He found at an early stage that powerlifting had little money or publicity associated with it and also his fellow Icelander and school friend, Jón Páll Sigmarsson, was beginning to make waves in the higher-profile world of the

World's Strongest Man The World's Strongest Man is an international Strongman competition held every year. Organized by American event management company IMG, a subsidiary of Endeavor, it is broadcast in the US during summers and in the UK around the end of Decem ...

and its associated circuit. His forays into strength athletics consisted of a mixture of Highland Games and strongman events. It was noted that he relied on his "tremendous strength" but sacrificed technique and suffered from a lack of proper, regular coaching. In 1985, Hjalti competed in the very first

Iceland's Strongest Man Strength athletics in Iceland refers to the participation of Icelandic competitors and the holding of Icelandic events in the modern phenomenon of strength athletics inaugurated by the World's Strongest Man. The sport's roots have a long and ancien ...

contest. Hjalti Árnason was second to Jón Páll that year whilst

came third. Hjalti would repeat podium finishes in this contest on more than one occasion whilst in the company of two men who between them won the

title eight times. In one such contest, his "animalistic approach" was demonstrated when he broke his opponent's arm in an arm wrestling bout. Upon being asked to do "something spectacular for the TV cameras" by a sponsor, he was reported to have picked the sponsor up by an arm and a leg and hurled him some distance to the astonishment of bystanders. On the world stage, he was a top performer in Highland Games. His wrestling match with

Bill Kazmaier William Kazmaier (born December 30, 1953) is an American former world champion powerlifter, world champion strongman and professional wrestler. During the 1970s and 1980s, he set numerous powerlifti ...

at Earlshall has been described as one of the best ever. He was highly rated at the World Muscle Power Championships and in breaking the world record in the platform lift became the first European to win the prestigious Le Defi Mark Ten International in Canada. However, his only appearance as a contestant at the

was in 1996, but he failed to qualify for the finals. Prior to that, he had been to many events as a tester, alongside his great friend Mark Higgins. Prior to 1994, the WSM had a limited field with no heats. As such countries were rarely granted multiple competitor places. For Hjalti, when in the prime of his strength sporting career, this left him in the shadow of Jón Páll, and later the rise of

. This has been described by David Webster as a pity because "he was undoubtedly one of the world's strongest men." Hjalti continued to compete as a

and won the +125 kg super heavyweight class of the IPF World Powerlifting Championships in 1991 in

Örebro Örebro ( , ) is the sixth-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of the Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers inland along the small river Svartån, and ...

, Sweden. Hjalti was later disqualified and the title passed to Hans Zerhoch. Hjalti was the first Icelander to break the 1000 kg barrier in the total ( squat, bench press &

deadlift The deadlift is a weight training exercise in which a loaded barbell or bar is lifted off the ground to the level of the hips, torso perpendicular to the floor, before being placed back on the ground. It is one of the three powerlifting exercises ...

Personal life and career after sport

From his marriage to Ethel Karlsdóttir, Hjalti has two sons, Greipur (born 1989) and Árni (born 1992). After divorcing, he moved in with his girlfriend, Halla Heimisdóttir. His careers were multiple and varied. He was a bouncer, caring supervisor in a psychiatric hospital, security agent and debt collector. He also became a system administrator for Post and Telecom in Iceland. He also remained close to sport and became a promoter of strength athletics in Iceland. His latest venture was the promotion of

. His brother is a noted musician in Iceland. Hjalti created the Jón Páll Sigmarsson Classic, which held its inaugural event in November 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Árnason, Hjalti Icelandic strength athletes Icelandic powerlifters 1963 births Living people Sportspeople from Reykjavík