The World's Strongest Man is an international strongman competition held every year. Organized by American event management company IMG, a subsidiary of Endeavor, it is broadcast in the US during summers and in the UK around the end of December each year. Competitors qualify based on placing in the top three at the four to eight Giants Live events each year. The current event sponsor is SBD Apparel. Previous sponsors include Tachi Palace, Coregenx, Commerce Hotel and Casino, DAF Trucks, Tonka, MET-Rx, and PartyPoker.com.
In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or similar circus performers who performed feats of strength. Today, strength athletics, also known as strongman competitions, are composed of a variety of events in which competitors have to move the highest weights possible, the winner being the one having the highest tally across all events.
A strongwoman is a woman who performs feats of strength in a show or circus, or a woman who competes in strength athletics. Traditionally, strongwomen have had a special appeal, as women involved in demonstrated feats of strength were exceptions.
The 2006 Met-Rx World's Strongest Man was the 29th edition of World's Strongest Man and was won by Phil Pfister, the first American to win the competition since Bill Kazmaier in 1982. The contest took place between the 14th and 23 September 2006, in Sanya, China.
The World's Strongest Man 2009 was the 32nd edition of World's Strongest Man and took place in Valletta, Malta from 26 September to 3 October 2009. It was sponsored by PartyPoker.com. It was anticipated by the strength athletics world as promising to be "the best one yet." The anticipation was based on the organisers ensuring invites were made to "every top athlete in the world" regardless of their affiliation to any particular strength athletics body. In previous years, the schism between the International Federation of Strength Athletes and the organisers of WSM had meant that certain athletes were forbidden to compete, undermining the credentials of the competition.
Laurence Cristiaan David Shahlaei is an English YouTuber, strength sports commentator, analyst, coach, and a retired strongman and powerlifting competitor. Shahlaei is a winner of England's Strongest Man, Britain's Strongest Man and Europe's Strongest Man competitions, and an 11 time entrant and 5 time finalist of the prestigious World's Strongest Man competition.
Brian Shaw is an American retired professional strongman who is widely regarded as one of the greatest strength athletes of all-time. He won the 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2016 World's Strongest Man, making him one of only five men to win the World’s Strongest Man four times or more. In 2011, became the first man to win the Arnold Strongman Classic and the World's Strongest Man competitions in the same calendar year, a feat he replicated in 2015. With 27 international competition wins, he is the fourth most decorated strongman in history behind Lithuania's Žydrūnas Savickas, Poland's Mariusz Pudzianowski and Iceland's Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson.
The 2004 World's Strongest Man was the 27th edition of World's Strongest Man and was won by Vasyl Virastyuk from Ukraine. It was his first title after finishing third the previous year. Zydrunas Savickas from Lithuania finished second for the third year in a row. Originally Mariusz Pudzianowski from Poland finished third, but was later disqualified after testing positive for a banned substance, thus third place was given to Magnus Samuelsson from Sweden. The contest was held in Nassau, Bahamas. The qualifying heats saw a major format change, going from the traditional 5-6 man heats with the top 2 going to the finals. This year's format was a 12-man round-robin competition taking place over 5 days, with the top six going onto the finals.
The 2001 World's Strongest Man was the 24th edition of World's Strongest Man and was won by Svend Karlsen from Norway. It was his first title after finishing second the previous year. 1998 winner Magnus Samuelsson from Sweden finished second after finishing third the previous year, and 2000 winner Janne Virtanen from Finland finished third. The contest was held at Victoria Falls, Zambia.
The 2002 World's Strongest Man was the 25th edition of the international World's Strongest Man competition, and was won by Mariusz Pudzianowski from Poland. The contest was held in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia.
The 2003 World's Strongest Man was the 26th edition of World's Strongest Man and was won by Mariusz Pudzianowski from Poland. It was his second title, and Pudzianowski's record-setting score of 66 points in the Final eclipsed the previous record of 60. His margin of victory was also a record. The contest was held at Victoria Falls, Zambia.
The 2007 World's Strongest Man was the 30th edition of World's Strongest Man and was won by Mariusz Pudzianowski from Poland. It was his fourth and record tying title. Sebastian Wenta from Poland finished second, and Terry Hollands from the United Kingdom finished third after finishing seventh the previous year. 2006 champion Phil Pfister from the United States finished fourth. The contest was held in Anaheim, California.
Vytautas Lalas is a Lithuanian professional strongman. He is most notable for being the winner of the 2013 Arnold Strongman Classic and the runner-up at the 2012 World's Strongest Man.
Jean-François 'JF' Caron is a Canadian strongman and powerlifter from Les Hauteurs, Quebec, Canada. Having competed in 73 International strongman competitions and winning 10 of them, Caron is among the 20 most decorated strongmen of all time.
The 2012 World's Strongest Man was the 35th edition of World's Strongest Man. The event was held on the grounds of the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, California, US. The event was sponsored by MET-Rx. The qualifying heats were held from September 24–27, and the finals took place Sept. 30 & Oct. 1, 2012. The winner was Žydrūnas Savickas, it was his third WSM title. Vytautas Lalas of Lithuania was second, and Iceland's Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson was third.
The 2016 World's Strongest Man was the 39th edition of the World's Strongest Man competition. The event was held in Kasane, Botswana, from August 13 to 20. Brian Shaw won his 4th World's Strongest Man title, putting him in an elite group of only three other men; Jón Páll Sigmarsson, Magnús Ver Magnússon, and Žydrūnas Savickas. Only Mariusz Pudzianowski holds more titles, with a total of five.
The 2019 World's Strongest Man was the 42nd edition of the World's Strongest Man competition. It took place in Bradenton, Florida between June 13 and 16. Martins Licis of the United States won the competition for the first time in his career. Mateusz Kieliszkowski of Poland finished second for the second year in a row. Defending champion Hafthor Julius Bjornsson of Iceland finished third, having suffered a torn plantar fascia during the qualifying heats that hampered him throughout the finals.
The 2021 World's Strongest Man was the 44th edition of the World's Strongest Man competition, an event that took place in Sacramento, California from June 15 to June 20, 2021. The defending champion was Oleksii Novikov of Ukraine, however, he failed to progress to the final after coming fourth in his heat. In so doing, he became the first World's Strongest Man reigning champion to compete at the following year's event and fail to qualify for the final since Magnús Ver Magnússon in the 1997 competition. The contest was won by Tom Stoltman who improved on his second place finish the previous year. Four-time champion Brian Shaw came second, returning to the podium after a 2 year absence, and Canada's Maxime Boudreault came third.
The 2023 Shaw Classic was the 4th edition of the Shaw Classic strongman competition which took place in Loveland, Colorado from 19 to 20 August 2023 at the Budweiser Events Center. The competition included separate professional mens, open mens and open women's categories. This would also be the last event of four times World's Strongest Man and organiser of the competition Brain Shaw's career. The winner of the professional mens category was given the title of The Strongest Man on Earth after Brian acquired the trademark for the phrase from Paul Ohl, the organiser of the now defunct Fortissimus strongman competition.
South Africa 
Janne Virtanen 
