On June 21, New York City Sports Commissioner Kenneth J. Podziba will welcome the World's Strongest Man Super Series to the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden. The competition will feature 12 of the sport's greatest athletes as they contend in fantastic feats of strength such as the famous Atlas Stones, in which athletes attempt to lift, carry, and load five stones ranging from 295 to 420 pounds onto platforms in what is one of the most challenging events in the sport. Among the athletes competing will be America's Strongest Man, Derek Poundstone. The event is scheduled to begin at 7:00pm.

"The World's Strongest Man Super Series is unlike any sporting event held in the city for quite some time," said Commissioner Podziba. "This is the first time since the 1930's that New York City has hosted a professional strongman competition, and its return is long overdue. The world's greatest strongmen will perform incredible acts that you truly have to see to believe. Hopefully this event can play a large role in creating new fans of this global sport that often flies under the radar in America."

The Super Series is the official qualifying route to becoming the World's Strongest Man. In each Super Series event, athletes are awarded points based on their placement in each of six to eight disciplines. Points are then tallied at the end to produce an overall standing, and the top four finishers automatically qualify for the year-end World's Strongest Man Competition. One particular discipline to be featured at this event is the power medley, a combination of three consecutive events that includes flipping tires and carrying heavy weights long distances. Another highly-anticipated competition is the last man standing deadlift, in which competitors lift bars of gradually-increasing weight until only one person is able to complete the task.

"Only the best athletes are invited to the Super Series events, and they have to be very well prepared to enter," said Jesper Albansson, Managing Director of the World's Strongest Man Super Series. "There is no room for mistakes. If you don't perform you will not only miss out on the higher placings, you also look bad on television all over the world."

The event at the WaMu Theater is the second of four Super Series events for the year, before the tour heads to Norway on July 5 and closes in Sweden on August 16. Points are awarded for performance in each of these four Super Series events, and the final standings determine a Super Series World Champion. Mariusz Pudzianowski of Poland, also the reigning World's Strongest Man titleholder, has taken the Super Series crown in each of the past four years.

In the first Super Series event of 2008, Poundstone emerged victorious, upsetting the heavily-favored Pudzianowski in thrilling fashion at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Poundstone's home state of Connecticut. America's Strongest Man will be looking to protect his Super Series lead with another victory in the Big Apple, but he will be up against some very stiff competition. Although Pudzianowski has had to pull out of this event with a knee injury, strongmen scheduled to compete at the event include 1998 World's Strongest Man titleholder Magnus Samuelsson of Sweden, Britain's Strongest Man Terry Hollands and top American challenger Travis Ortmayer. Super Series events typically include the top six strongmen in the international rankings and at least four other top qualifiers.

Tickets are available at www.ticketmaster.com or at the Madison Square Garden box office.

For more information on the World's Strongest Man Super Series, please visit www.super-series.com.

The New York City Sports Commission is the mayoral agency charged with attracting, facilitating and promoting professional, amateur and scholastic sports events in New York City. The Sports Commission has played an integral role in creating or developing many new sporting events, including the NFL Kickoff Live from Times Square, NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series™ Champions Week, the BMC Software NYC Cycling Championship, the AVP Brooklyn Open, the NAUTICA NYC Triathlon, the NYC Half-Marathon, the Union Square Street Sessions presented by Jeep®, the Wild Onion Urban Adventure Race, and the Men's Health Urbanathlon.