Kaz was bigger and heavier thus a little stronger, just as some of the current guys have more pure power than Mariusz. He's comparable due to greater speed and agility.
Some of the best euro lifters have been excluded:
Prior to 2004, the IFSA was the only strongman series (And reg body) and the WSM contest was an extra owned by Met-Rx ,along with some other anual contests. Anyone in the IFSA series could apply. However in 2004 there was falling out between Met-rx and Douglas Edmonds (Scot) who is the President of The IFSA (who’s son Gregory is also a competing strongman). The dispute was over Mariusz Pudzianowski (Poland) who is Met-rx main sponsor and marketing tool. He tested positive for drugs in the 2004 WSM (which he won) after Edmonds changed the rules at the last minute. He was stripped of his title and banned from the IFSA for a year along with a few others. Met-rx became unhappy and started its own super strong man series. Starting in 2004 only those competing in their super strong man series could qualify for the WSM comp.
This has led to major problems for the athletes whose own sponsors will not allow them to compete in the Met-rx titles (As the sponsors themselves will have links with IFSA) However this is bound to even out over time and some are beginning to link up to Met-rx) But the bottom line is that The IFSA series is the most popular league, but the met-rx contests are viewed by millions and have historic value. Therefore the Strongmen have to choose between them. The pattern at the moment is that Most European Strongmen are in IFSA series and most American and Canadian are in super strong series. With a few exceptions.
The Split has also had an effect on the audiences as it’s really unclear who is stronger than who as many of the favorites don’t compete against each other. Many argue that Zydrunas Savickas (Lithuania) is the strongest man in the world as he has smashed many records and has won both the Arnold classic strongman comp for the last 4 years and the ISFA series for the last 2. However he has never won WSM (coming 2nd three times, twice to Pudzianowski) prior to 2004.. Mariusz Pudzianowski has won WSM 3 times (4 including his stripped title) but he has never beaten Savickas in the IFSA series. WSM is still a huge global event and is watched in nearly 80 countries, the athletes that appear on it seem to get better recognized and more fans world wide, however it has to be staid that the standard is getting easier because of the above and many people miss their favorites and long time competitors like Karlsen, Samuelsson and Bergmanis. It’s thought that with the easing competition Pudzianowski will continue to dominate it and shatter all records.
IFSA athletes include favorites Zydrunas Savickas, Raimonds Bergmanis, Vasyl Virastyuk, Svend Karlsen (ret), Magnus Samuelsson.