Ervin Katona


Ervin Katona is a Serbian strongman competitor and regular entrant to the World's Strongest Man competition. Katona is an ethnic Hungarian.

Biography

Ervin Katona was a junior national kickboxing champion in his youth. He later moved into the field of Strength athletics, and started weight training at the age of 25. He had soon won a number of Balkan titles and became the winner of the Serbia's Strongest Man title.
Katona became a member of the International Federation of Strength Athletes and following the latter's schism with World's Strongest Man could not compete in that event. He did compete, however, in the IFSA version in both 2006 and 2007. In 2008 he was a major figure on the Strongman Champions League circuit and consistent podium finishes earned him the overall runner-up spot behind his great friend Zydrunas Savickas. In early 2009 in the Strongman Champions League event in his hometown Katona suffered a torn biceps. Despite this, Katona was able to recover in time to compete in the prestigious 2009 World's Strongest Man event in Malta, he was unable to qualify for the finals. In 2010, Katona was able to qualify for the World's Strongest Man finals and finished in 7th place. Katona also won 3 Strongman Champions League events in Bulgaria, Serbia and Slovakia in 2010. Katona finished second overall for the 2010 SCL season behind Terry Hollands.
Katona owns a gym in his home town of Subotica, which he cites as his greatest personal achievement. He entered in Big Brother VIP 2010 house and finished in fifth place after 28 days. Katona set a Guinness World Record on 25 April 2009 for longest time to restrain a vehicle weighing 980 kg in Milan, Italy. His time was 1 minute 2 seconds.
Katona won the Strongman Champions League overall title for the 2011/2012 season, he had previously finished in 2nd overall in 2008 and 2010.

Personal records