To me one of the great successes of the year is the fact that over 20 people were caught in the doping screening at the championships.

It is a very clear signal that the armwrestling community no longer cynically leave people to wallow in their weakness and drug abuse, but realise that addicts need help, and the first step is forcing them out of denial. It also brings hope to those who are truly strong, who now receive medals that earlier have been given to the weak of character. The other thing that truly stands out is the quality of the championships in Lithuania and Poland.

A quality supplied almost entirely by the staff at Mazurenko promotions. Yes, you could argue that I am biased, that I work with Mazurenkos team and that I am just sucking up. But let's be honest, has anyone else even been close? Running the world championships with 1200 athletes with so little disturbance is amazing. Of course there were problems, And I probably know about some that most of you have no idea existed, and still I state that I think 2013 marks the start of a new era in armwrestling organizing and promoting.

Looking at individuals, obviously there are hundreds of armwrestlers who have impressed during the year, but there are two people who will be underlined when writing about armwrestling in 2013.

There is Dave Chaffee, who over night became a household name in armwrestling after beating Denis Chiplenkov at Nemiroff. He lost in the finals, but he definitely made his mark.

The other, and in my opinion brightest star of the year is Evgeny Prudnik. It started with his amazing match in the finals at the Europeans, that I hope is shown everywhere when teaching armwrestling. Following up with a solid performance at worlds, and crowning the season at Nemiroff. Running through some incredible competition in the 86, he proceeded to take third place in the open, beating some world class heavy weights, and Zoloev, the winner of the 95, normally the one named as being able to beat opponents way out his weight class. And all this by a man who says it is not a war, it is a game, and names building a house and planting a tree as important, before becoming the undisputed champion of the world. But then again, he already is.

Looking back at 2013, I would say the future of armwrestling is bright. But I do enjoy the present as well.

Anders Axklo