2023 World's Strongest Man Explained

Competition Name:2023 World's Strongest Man
Dates:19-23 April 2023
Venue:Burroughs and Chapin Pavilion Place
Location:Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Country:
Athletes Participating:30
Nations Participating:14
Winner: Mitchell Hooper
Prev:Sacramento 2022
Next:Myrtle Beach 2024

The 2023 World's Strongest Man was the 46th World's Strongest Man competition which took place in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina from April 19 to 23.[1] The contest was won by Mitchell Hooper of Barrie, Ontario making him the first Canadian champion. Defending champion Tom Stoltman placed second, and Oleksii Novikov placed third.[2] [3] [4] [5]

Participants

[6]

Originally, Pavlo Nakonechnyy of Ukraine and Cheick Sanou (Iron Biby) of Burkina Faso were set to compete in this competition, but both withdrew through injuries, being replaced by reserves Thomas Evans and Kristján Jón Haraldsson respectively.[7] 2022 runner-up and 2019 champion Martins Licis elected not to compete this year, taking a year out of competition, and Maxime Boudreault, a finalist in the previous two WSM contests, was forced to withdraw with an injury from earlier in the year.

This year's competition featured 6 rookies, with Thomas Evans, Kristján Jón Haraldsson, Fadi El Masri, Mathew Ragg, Spenser Remick and Jaco Schoonwinkel all making their first appearance at the competition. Ragg and Schoonwinkel went on to make the final in their first WSM competition, with Ragg becoming the first New Zealander to qualify for the final since 1983, before the introduction of the groups. El Masri became the first man to represent Lebanon at WSM.

Prior to the competition, both Mark Felix and 4-time champion Brian Shaw announced that the 2023 WSM would be their final WSM contest. Felix would be eliminated in the group stage, and Shaw went on to make the final in his last WSM.

Rauno Heinla returned to WSM for the first time since 2011, ultimately taking 3rd place in his group. Two-time runner-up Mateusz Kieliszkowski made a much anticipated return to WSM for the first time since 2019, but disappointingly went out in the group stage for the first time in his career.

Heat results

Format

The 30 athletes were divided into 5 groups of 6 athletes, with 2 athletes from each group progressing to the final of 10. The winner of each group progressed to the final, and 2nd and 3rd in each group would then advance to a 'Stone Off', from which the winner would also progress.

Events

Heat 1

NameEvent 1
Loading race
Event 2
Deadlift
Event 3
Log Ladder
Event 4
Conan's Wheel
Event 5
Kettlebell toss
Pts
1 Pavlo Kordiyaka1st - 5 in 41.38s4th - 5 reps2nd - 5 in 46.00s1st - 742 °1st - 6 in 18.09s25
2 Tom Stoltman2nd - 5 in 43.84s2nd - 6 reps1st - 5 in 41.56s6th - 598 °3rd - 6 in 21.99s20.5
3 Bobby Thompson3rd - 5 in 56.56s1st - 7 reps3rd - 4 in 25.83s3rd - 649 °5th - 6 in 35.67s20
4 Konstantine Janashia4th - 5 in 1m 1.10s2nd - 6 reps5th - 4 in 1m 8.35s4th - 633 °2nd - 6 in 19.93s17.5
5 Pa O'Dwyer5th - 5 in 1m 5.89s4th - 5 reps6th - 3 in 25.80s2nd - 722 °4th - 6 in 31.71s13
6 Eddie Williams6th - 5 in 1m 6.44s4th - 5 reps4th - 4 in 55.89s5th - 614 °6th - 6 in 36.40s9

Stone Off

NameNationalityStones
Tom Stoltman3
Bobby Thompson3

Heat 2

NameEvent 1
Loading race
Event 2
Deadlift
Event 3
Log Ladder
Event 4
Conan's Wheel
Event 5
Kettlebell toss
Pts
1 Oleksii Novikov1st - 5 in 52.15s1st - 6 reps3rd - 4 in 32.50 s1st - 897 °6th - 1 in 9.56s23
2 Luke Stoltman4th - 5 in 1m 2.78s2nd - 5 reps2nd - 5 in 52.76s3rd - 545 °2nd - 6 in 49.35s21
3 Gavin Bilton5th - 5 in 1m 3.01s2nd - 5 reps4th - 4 in 56.84s2nd - 557 °1st - 6 in 19.90s20
4 Thomas Evans3rd - 5 in 57.40 s2nd - 5 reps1st - 5 in 38.96s6th - 69 °4th - 5 in 28.68s18
5 Kristján Jón Haraldsson2nd - 5 in 54.18 s3rd - 4 reps5th - 2 in 16.28s4th - 524 °3rd - 5 in 15.57s15.5
6 Fadi El Masri6th - 4 in 49.57 s3rd - 4 reps6th - 2 in 17.43s5th - 70 °5th - 4 in 20.61s7.5

Stone Off

NameNationalityStones
Luke Stoltman7
Gavin Bilton7

Heat 3

NameEvent 1
Loading race
Event 2
Deadlift
Event 3
Log Ladder
Event 4
Conan's Wheel
Event 5
Kettlebell toss
Pts
1 Mitchell Hooper1st - 5 in 42.05s1st - 8 reps1st - 5 in 39.51s1st - 636 °2nd - 6 in 17.18s29
2 Mathew Ragg3rd - 5 in 58.72s2nd - 7 reps2nd - 5 in 56.84s2nd - 628 °3rd - 6 in 21.96s22.5
3 Aivars Šmaukstelis2nd - 5 in 52.71s4th - 5 reps4th - 4 in 30.44s3rd - 575 °4th - 6 in 25.41s17.5
4 Mateusz Kieliszkowski5th - 5 in 1m 7.53s6th - 4 reps5th - 4 in 33.24s4th - 538 °1st - 7 in 32.44s14
5 Graham Hicks6th - 4 in 53.40s2nd - 7 reps3rd - 4 in 28.31s6th - 425 °6th - 4 in 20.51s11.5
6 Spenser Remick4th - 5 in 1m 7.15s4th - 5 reps6th - 4 in 38.79s5th - 470 °5th - 5 in 24.31s10.5

Stone Off

NameNationalityStones
Mathew Ragg8
Aivars Šmaukstelis8

Heat 4

NameEvent 1
Loading race
Event 2
Deadlift
Event 3
Log Ladder
Event 4
Conan's Wheel
Event 5
Kettlebell toss
Pts
1 Jaco Schoonwinkel1st - 5 in 47.10s4th - 6 reps2nd - 4 in 34.77s1st - 713 °3rd - 6 in 47.32s24
2 Brian Shaw3rd 5 in 53.70s1st - 8 reps1st - 4 in 33.99s5th - 411 °1st - 7 in 48.45s23.5
3 Rauno Heinla2nd - 5 in 51.41s1st - 8 reps3rd - 3 in 21.60s3rd - 572 °5th - 5 in 44.51s20.5
4 Adam Bishop4th - 4 in 43.12s3rd - 7 reps6th - 3 in 33.25s6th - 292 °2nd - 6 in 32.29s14
5 Kevin Faires6th - 3 in 1m 5.30s5th - 5 reps4th - 3 in 28.93s2nd - 636 °4th - 5 in 34.09s13.5
6 Gabriel Rhéaume5th - 4 in 51.03s5th - 5 reps5th - 3 in 32.96s4th - 476 °6th - 3 in 14.00s9.5

Stone Off

NameNationalityStones
Brian Shaw11
Rauno Heinla11

Heat 5

NameEvent 1
Loading race
Event 2
Deadlift
Event 3
Log Ladder
Event 4
Conan's Wheel
Event 5
Kettlebell toss
Pts
1 Trey Mitchell3rd - 5 in 1m 6.64s1st - 8 reps1st - 5 in 39.44s3rd - 523 °1st - 7 in 34.42s26
2 Evan Singleton1st - 5 in 46.90s2nd - 6 reps2nd - 4 in 35.48s2nd - 589 °3rd - 6 in 28.81s24.5
3 Eyþór Ingólfsson Melsteð2nd - 5 in 56.41s4th - 5 reps3rd - 4 in 39.93s1st - 629 °2nd - 6 in 27.66s22.5
4 Mark Felix5th - 4 in 54.32s2nd - 6 reps6th - 1 in 7.58s5th - 470 °4th - 4 in 42.66s12.5
5 Paul Smith4th - 4 in 44.79s6th - 4 reps4th - 4 in 45.84s4th - 518 °6th - 1 in 28.62s11
6 Jean-Stephen Coraboeuf6th - 3 in 40.63s4th - 5 reps5th - 3 in 22.34s6th - 143 °5th - 2 in 23.65s8.5

Stone Off

NameNationalityStones
Evan Singleton8
Eyþór Ingólfsson Melsteð8

Finals events results

Event 1: Shield Carry

NameNationalityDistanceEvent PtsOverall Pts
1Mitchell Hooper1010
2Tom Stoltman99
3Oleksii Novikov88
477
5Evan Singleton66
6Pavlo Kordiyaka55
7Luke Stoltman44
8Brian Shaw33
9Mathew Ragg22
10Jaco Schoonwinkel11

Event 2: Deadlift

NameNationalityRepetitionsEvent PtsOverall Pts
1Mitchell Hooper81020
2Oleksii Novikov77.515.5
277.514.5
2Brian Shaw77.510.5
2Mathew Ragg77.59.5
6Tom Stoltman6514
7Evan Singleton53.59.5
7Jaco Schoonwinkel53.54.5
9427
10Luke Stoltman315

Event 3: Fingal's Fingers

NameNationalityTime (sec)Event PtsOverall Pts
1Tom Stoltman5 in 39.361024
2Oleksii Novikov5 in 42.26924.5
35 in 48.46822.5
45 in 48.69714
5Evan Singleton5 in 49.85615.5
6Mitchell Hooper5 in 49.89525
7Brian Shaw4 in 26.61414.5
8Luke Stoltman4 in 32.5438
9Mathew Ragg4 in 35.03211.5
10Jaco Schoonwinkel4 in 40.7615.5

Event 4: Max Dumbbell

NameNationalityWeightEvent PtsOverall Pts
1Evan Singleton9.525
1Mitchell Hooper9.534.5
3Tom Stoltman6.530.5
3Oleksii Novikov6.531
36.520.5
3Luke Stoltman6.514.5
7325.5
7Brian Shaw317.5
7Mathew Ragg314.5

Event 5: Bus Pull

NameNationalityTime (sec)Event PtsOverall Pts
1Mitchell Hooper30.241044.5
2Tom Stoltman32.278.539
2Evan Singleton32.278.533.5
432.46727.5
532.49631.5
6Brian Shaw32.65522.5
7Luke Stoltman32.83418.5
8Oleksii Novikov33.35334
9Mathew Ragg36.29216.5

Event 6: Atlas Stones

NameNationalityTime (sec)Event PtsOverall Pts
1Tom Stoltman5 in 33.261049
2Mitchell Hooper5 in 36.96953.5
35 in 45.72839.5
4Oleksii Novikov4 in 27.43741
5Evan Singleton4 in 28.16639.5
6Brian Shaw4 in 35.88527.5
74 in 45.86431.5
8Luke Stoltman4 in 48.49321.5
9Mathew Ragg4 in 49.50218.5

Final standings

NameNationalityPts
1Mitchell Hooper53.5
2Tom Stoltman49
3Oleksii Novikov41
439.5
5Evan Singleton39.5
631.5
7Brian Shaw27.5
821.5
9Mathew Ragg18.5
10Jaco Schoonwinkel5.5

Records

Mark Felix competed in his 18th World's Strongest Man competition, breaking his own record. He also became the oldest athlete to compete at the World's Strongest Man, being 57 years and 2 days old when the group stages concluded (and he was eliminated from the contest), breaking the record previously held by Odd Haugen.[8]

Brian Shaw broke his own records for most WSM finals (15), most consecutive WSM finals (also 15), and most consecutive WSM contests (16). He also became the second man after Felix to compete in 16 WSMs. On top of this, by winning the kettlebell throw in his group, he won a record 62nd event at WSM (across both the group stages and the finals).

Rauno Heinla competed at WSM for the first time since 2011, breaking the previous record for longest absence from WSM held by Travis Ortmayer, setting a new record of 12 years.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Alund . Natalie . The World's Strongest Man competition starts today in Myrtle Beach. Here's how to watch. . USA Today . April 19, 2023.
  2. Web site: Dickson . Jake . Mitchell Hooper Wins 2023 World's Strongest Man . BarBend . April 23, 2023 . April 23, 2023.
  3. Web site: Mitchel Hooper Wins 2023 World's Strongest Man . Dylan . Wolf . Generation Iron . April 23, 2023 . April 23, 2023.
  4. Web site: Mitchel Hooper Wins 2023 World's Strongest Man . Robert . Zeglinski . Breaking Muscle . April 23, 2023 . April 24, 2023.
  5. Web site: Bumbaca . Chris . April 23, 2023 . Mitchel Hooper Wins 2023 World's Strongest Man Finals . USA Today . April 24, 2023.
  6. Web site: WSM 2023 Final . Strongmanarchives . April 21, 2023.
  7. Web site: Polish . Alex . April 19, 2023 . Cheick "Iron Biby" Sanou Withdraws From the 2023 World's Strongest Man — Kristján Jón Haraldsson Steps In . BarBend . April 28, 2023.
  8. Web site: Tabakovic . Vedad Tabakovic . April 21, 2023 . Mark Felix Retires From World's Strongest Man Appearances; A Tribute to a Strongman Legend . April 28, 2023 . Fitness Volt.