Oleksii Novikov is training to help defend his home country against Russian attack.
Oleksii Novikov dedicated his recent victory during the 2022 Europe’s Strongest Man competition to his home country of Ukraine. The event took place on Saturday and it did not take long fo the strongman to share a video on his YouTube page to tie it all together. Novikov has been training as a soldier to defend Ukraine against the Russian attack and shared some footage.
In the video, Novikov is seen participating in drills along with other soldiers. In the midst of this war, Novikov has been able to stay at the top of strongman and that is what is most impressive. Following his victory in England, Novikov made sure to dedicate it to Ukraine.
“I dedicate this win to Ukraine. We’ll win, we’re the strongest, remember it. And we’ll be the most prosperous country in the world. We’ll live a very good life, I promise. I travel a lot and know that Ukraine is truly the best country and I don’t want to live in any country apart from Ukraine.”
In March, Oleksii Novikov finished second at the 2022 Arnold Strongman Classic behind Martins Licis. This competition came after Novikov began raising money for supplies for soldiers in Ukraine. Despite finishing as the runner-up, Novikov was gifted a larger prize to bring home for the cause.
What makes his feats even more impressive is that he is unable to train like a true strongman during this time.
“Unfortunately, I can’t train very well like strongman…[for] months, I train like soldier. Glory to Ukraine.”
Oleksii Novikov returned home after wining his most recent event and began training with soldiers. He was geared up fully and was able to handle the weight because of his training as a strongman. In the video, Novikov was seen going through the courses and shooting at targets, including once that had pictures of Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko.
Novikov is set to appear in competition in May during the 2022 World’s Strongest Man competition. This will be a week-long event in Sacramento where the world’s best strongmen will compete for the title. Novikov won the event back in 2020 and he has some extra motivation this time around.
Even while training as a soldier, Oleksii Novikov has remained at the top of strongman.
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