50 Fun Facts About World's Strongest Man

Which World's Strongest Man champion played Gregor 'the Mountain' Clegane in Game of Thrones?

Hafþór Björnsson joined the cast in 2013 for the fourth season, then won the 2018 title after six straight years on the podium.

Which star of TV's The Incredible Hulk finished fourth in the first World's Strongest Man in 1977?

Lou Ferrigno placed fourth in a field of eight, one spot ahead of fellow bodybuilder Franco Columbu, who went out with a knee injury.

At the 1977 World's Strongest Man, bodybuilder Franco Columbu dislocated his knee racing with what on his back?

A refrigerator was the load in the event known as the Fridge Race, and the fall put the 1976 Mr. Olympia out of action for three years.

Two-time World's Strongest Man winner Geoff Capes became a world champion breeder of which birds?

Budgerigars brought Geoff Capes a world championship in 1995, and in 2008 he was appointed president of the Budgerigar Society.

Which Nordic country's three World's Strongest Man champions have won nine titles between them?

Iceland owes eight of its nine titles to two men who won four each, in runs that began in 1984 and 1991.

Which British winner of the 2017 World's Strongest Man had set a 500 kg deadlift world record in 2016?

Eddie Hall bled from his nose and ears and briefly lost his sight before fainting after the lift at the 2016 World Deadlift Championships.

At the 2015 World's Strongest Man in Malaysia, which fruit replaced rocks in the Basque Circle carrying basket?

Pineapples filled the basket, which normally holds at least 270 kg of rock and is carried in the crook of the elbows around a circular track.

Which Polish strongman nicknamed the Dominator was the first to win five World's Strongest Man titles?

Mariusz Pudzianowski took his fifth title in 2008, then swapped strongman for a career as a mixed martial artist the following year.

Which World's Strongest Man event, usually the last, has athletes lift five heavy spheres onto platforms?

Atlas Stones get heavier along the row, and several titles have been settled by a head-to-head race on them in the final event.

Which Scottish strongman nicknamed the Albatross won World's Strongest Man in 2021, 2022 and 2024?

Tom Stoltman earned the nickname for his huge arm span, and in 2021 became the first Scot to take the title.

Which American from Colorado won four World's Strongest Man titles between 2011 and 2016?

Brian Shaw played college basketball on a scholarship before turning to strongman, and went on to reach 15 finals in a row.

Which Lithuanian became the oldest World's Strongest Man winner when he took a fourth title aged 38?

Žydrūnas Savickas won that 2014 final by just half a point, and across his career finished runner-up six times.

World's Strongest Man was developed in 1977 as a made-for-TV contest for which American network?

CBS aired the first contests from California, then sold the rights to the BBC in 1982.

Which one-on-one event decided the champion as the final test in the first few World's Strongest Man contests?

Tug of war was run as a single-elimination tournament, and in 1980 only the four best competitors got to pull.

During the 2020 pandemic delay, World's Strongest Man ran a fan-voted 'Home Edition' series on which app?

Snapchat carried the series, in which athletes recreated events at home and the fans' favourite won a $10,000 prize.

Which kinesiologist became the first Canadian to win World's Strongest Man when he took the 2023 title?

Mitchell Hooper had made his debut at the contest only a year earlier, and ran marathons before he took up strength sports.

Which West Virginia firefighter became the first American World's Strongest Man champion in 24 years in 2006?

Phil Pfister won the last five events in a row to overhaul the defending champion, the first American victory outside the United States.

Which World's Strongest Man race has athletes carry a heavy object, often an anvil, in each hand?

Farmer's Walk loads run from about 125 to 170 kg per hand, and a far heavier Giant version is also contested.

Caber tossing and throwing a weight over a bar came to World's Strongest Man from which traditional gathering?

Highland Games heavy events suited the contest's two Scottish organisers, one of them twice a world caber-tossing champion.

Which American powerlifter was the first to win three straight World's Strongest Man titles, from 1980 to 1982?

Bill Kazmaier was then not invited back for several years, and finished second when he finally returned in 1988.

Which powerlifter became the first four-time World's Strongest Man champion with wins from 1984 to 1990?

Jón Páll Sigmarsson sealed the fourth by overhauling the leader in the final event, a 200-metre race with 100 kg on his back.

Which strongman entered the 1991 World's Strongest Man only as the reserve, yet won it and three more titles?

Magnús Ver Magnússon later took three titles in a row from 1994 to 1996, a streak only one champion before him had managed.

Which former rugby player won the 2025 World's Strongest Man on debut, the first champion from Africa?

Rayno Nel won by half a point while also working full-time as an electrical engineer.

Before his two World's Strongest Man titles, Geoff Capes competed at three Olympic Games in which athletics event?

Shot put made Geoff Capes a double Commonwealth champion, and he set a British record of 21.68 metres in 1980.

Which World's Strongest Man event, named after a Gaelic mythical hero, has athletes flip a row of hinged poles?

Fingal's Fingers get longer and heavier down the row, and athletes are scored on how many they flip and how fast.

In which World's Strongest Man event does an athlete grip handles to stop two hinged pillars falling outwards?

Hercules Hold is a pure test of grip: there is no distance or weight to beat, only the clock, and whoever hangs on longest wins.

After six years in the United States, World's Strongest Man first went abroad in 1983 to which country?

New Zealand staged it in Christchurch, where the local touches included a wool bale hoist and a deadlift using cheese.

Which natural wonder in Zambia hosted World's Strongest Man in both 2001 and 2003?

Victoria Falls heats in 2001 featured the Africa Stone, a carrying slab cut in the outline of the continent.

Which strongman, born in Riga and raised in the United States, won the 2019 World's Strongest Man?

Martins Licis first tried stone lifting on his grandparents' farm in Latvia, taught by his grandfather, a sculptor and former weightlifter.

Which Ukrainian won the 2020 World's Strongest Man aged 24, setting a partial deadlift record of 537.5 kg?

Oleksii Novikov became the second-youngest winner in the contest's history, just seven days older than the 1984 champion had been.

Which 2004 World's Strongest Man champion was sworn in as a member of Ukraine's parliament in 2021?

Vasyl Virastyuk had clinched his title on the very last event, after going into it level on points with his closest rival.

Which Swedish arm wrestler won the 1998 World's Strongest Man and reached the final ten times?

Magnus Samuelsson was the son of a Swedish arm wrestling champion and placed second at the 1993 European championships himself.

Which Norwegian former bodybuilder won the 2001 World's Strongest Man after finishing runner-up a year earlier?

Svend Karlsen was known for bellowing a Viking battle cry as he lifted, and was the last champion of a long Nordic run.

Which Finnish strongman won World's Strongest Man in 1997 and 1999, then acted in the film Kingdom of Heaven?

Jouko Ahola won at his very first attempt despite weighing only about 125 kg, light for a champion, and later refereed at the contest.

Which American weightlifter won the first two World's Strongest Man contests, in 1977 and 1978?

Bruce Wilhelm had been the US super-heavyweight champion in 1975 and 1976, and retired from the strongman contest unbeaten.

Which Grenada-born plasterer became the oldest World's Strongest Man competitor at 57 in 2023?

Mark Felix was invited to the contest eighteen times, and did his strength training on four evenings a week around his day job.

Ted van der Parre, the tallest World's Strongest Man competitor ever at seven feet, represented which country?

The Netherlands had made the podium five times in the 1980s without a win before Ted van der Parre took the 1992 title by a single point.

Sheffield-born Jamie Reeves, the 1989 World's Strongest Man champion, had earlier worked in which job?

Coal miner Jamie Reeves went on to become a professional wrestler, and stayed in strength sport as a referee and promoter.

Gary Taylor, at six feet the shortest man to win World's Strongest Man, came from which country?

Wales picked Gary Taylor as a weightlifter for the 1982 Commonwealth Games, and he lifted at the 1984 Olympics before his 1993 title.

Which UK-founded strongman tour was named the official World's Strongest Man qualifying tour in 2009?

Giants Live took over the role from the Strongman Super Series, with the top three at each of its shows earning a place at the next contest.

Which strongman federation split from World's Strongest Man in 2004 and barred its athletes from the contest?

IFSA ran its own world championships from 2005 to 2007, so the sport's best men were split between two circuits until the federation folded.

Which California film studio lot hosted the very first World's Strongest Man contest in 1977?

Universal Studios staged an invitation-only contest for eight men drawn from football, bodybuilding, weightlifting and track and field, none of whom had trained for its events.

In which World's Strongest Man event do athletes shoulder a crossbar with heavy weights hanging from two uprights?

Super Yoke loads reached 500 kg in the 2015 final, where athletes had 60 seconds to cover a 20-metre course.

The 2010 World's Strongest Man final ended level on points; which tiebreak method decided the title?

Countback compares placings across the events, and the winner's higher finishes settled the closest result the contest had seen.

At the 2017 World's Strongest Man in Botswana, the carrying stone was sculpted as the head of which animal?

Elephant Carry replaced the usual flat, roughly triangular slab of about 186 kg, which athletes hug to the chest and walk with for distance.

Which 1987 contest at Huntly Castle pitted three champions together in the only year without a World's Strongest Man?

Pure Strength brought together the three men who had won every title from 1980 to 1986, and the 1986 champion took eight of its ten events.

Which kind of weather event pushed back the opening days of the 2020 World's Strongest Man in Florida?

A hurricane named Eta cost the athletes their planned rest day, at a contest already being held without spectators.

Which overhead event saw world records of 210 kg and then 220 kg set at the 2010 and 2012 World's Strongest Man?

Log Lift records at both contests fell to the same man, who went on to win the title each time.

Which California city hosted World's Strongest Man in 2021 and 2022 and again in 2025?

Sacramento's 2025 contest brought a format change, with each finalist's group-stage performance counting towards the final.

Which American, a four-time world powerlifting champion, won the 1979 World's Strongest Man title?

Don Reinhoudt set a powerlifting total without supportive equipment in 1975 that stood as the world record for 38 years.