The last day of competition is in the books, and we have a new world champion! Let’s get right down to the details. First event of the day was the bus pull. Every athlete strapped a harness to their body and pulled a bus across a distance as quickly as possible. Oleksii Novikov had the best time with 41.51 seconds. Martins Licis came in second with a time of 42.18 seconds, and Luke Stoltman finished third in the event with a time of 44.50 seconds. Brain Shaw narrowly fell behind Stoltman with a time of 44.69 seconds.
The second event was the power stairs. I have never seen this event in person or done it myself, so I really love seeing this event when it happens. It’s a unique event with an emphasis on power and explosive speed. Maxime Boudreault had the best results completing nine reps for a time of 39.07 seconds. Tom Stoltman came second in this event with nine reps completed in 41.04 seconds. Martins Licis would take third in this event completing nine reps in 44.50 seconds. Brian Shaw would complete eight reps for a time of 1:09.03. From there, the rest of the athletes really fell behind. No one else completed more than seven reps.
The last event of the day was the atlas stones. In true World’s Strongest Man fashion, everything was tied up with heavy stones. Every athlete had to load five stones as fast as possible. Simple but classic strongman. The Stoltman brothers would take the top two spots in the event. Tom would complete five for a time of 25.76 seconds, and Luke would finish his five reps with a time of 25.78 seconds. Maxime Boudreault came in third with a time of 28.04 seconds. Eythor Ingolfsson Melsted would finish fourth completing five reps for a time of 28.87 seconds. I expected Brian Shaw to really show out for this event, but he posted a time of 39.29 seconds, which was clearly not enough to.
After five days of competition, we have our placements on the podium! In third, we have everyone’s favorite Ukrainian, Oleksii Novikov. In second place, we have our very own from the United States, Martins “The Dragon” Licis. And finally, our 2022 World’s Strongest Man from Britain, Tom “the Albatross” Stoltman. Tom Stoltman has successfully defended his title from 2021, and it doesn’t look like he’s going to slow down anytime soon. Does he have what it takes to have a three-peat in 2023 as the World’s Strongest Man will be in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
I can’t say I am surprised to see Tom Stoltman the winner. He is a formidable competitor. Despite some controversy surrounding his victory, Stoltman still had to go toe to toe with Licis and Novikov, who are two of the most well rounded strongman athletes in the world. I think there is a lot to look forward to, and I can’t wait for the next major competition. They seem to be a solid bunch of men, and they are world class athletes. There is much to look forward to as the sport becomes more popular, and more professional level shows are produced throughout the world.
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