Participants
[2]
Manuel Angulo, Nedžmin Ambešković and Kim Ujarak are the first representatives of Chile, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Greenland in WSM history, respectively. Angulo is also the first South American athlete to compete at WSM.
Before the contest began, two time runner-up Mateusz Kieliszkowski, Peiman Maheripourehir, Rauno Heinla and Pa O’Dwyer were initially contestants before withdrawing.
Graham Hicks, Cheick “Iron Biby” Sanou, four time champion Žydrūnas Savickas, and regular finalist J.F. Caron declined to compete. Hicks declined his invitation as he was not permitted to travel to the United States from the United Kingdom as he was not vaccinated against COVID-19. Caron was unable to compete as he recovered from injuries he sustained at the 2022 Arnold Strongman Classic. [3]
Heat results
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
- Loading Race: 5 implements. 1 Minute 15 second time limit.
- Deadlift Ladder: 5 lifts weighing between 300–380 kilograms (660–840 lb). 1 Minute 15 second time limit.
- Car Walk: 430 kilograms (950 lb) down a 20 metres (66 ft) course. 60 second time limit
- Log Lift: 145 kilograms (320 lb). 1 Minute 15 second time limit.
- Wrecking Ball Hold: 228 kilograms (503 lb)
Heat 2
| # | Name | Event 1
Loading Race | Event 2
Deadlift Ladder | Event 3
Car Walk | Event 4
Log Lift | Event 5
Wrecking Ball Hold | Pts |
|---|
| 1 |  Mitchell Hooper | 1st - 5 in 38.31s | 1st - 5 in 31.21s | 1st - 11.64s | 2nd - 7 reps | 6th - 6.40s | 23.5 |
| 2 |  Bobby Thompson | 5th - 5 in 49.70s | 2nd - 5 in 42.56s | 3rd - 16.05s | 1st - 8 reps | 2nd - 1m 21.33s | 22 |
| 3 | Brian Shaw | 2nd - 5 in 45.00s | 5th - 4 in 32.20s | 5th - 19.97s | 2nd - 7 reps | 3rd - 1m 6.13s | 17.5 |
| 4 |  Mark Felix | 6th - 5 in 54.96s | 4th - 4 in 28.64s | 2nd - 13.96s | 6th - 0 reps | 1st - 2m 20.49s | 15 |
| 5 |  Konstantine Janashia | 4th - 5 in 49.47s | 6th - 3 in 19.05s | 4th - 18.16s | 4th - 5 reps | 4th - 1m 1.38s | 13 |
| 6 |  Gabriel Peña | 3rd - 5 in 45.88s | 3rd - 5 in 52.53s | 6th - 18.9 metres (62 ft) | 5th - 1 rep | 5th - 48.27s | 13 |
Stone Off
Considered the group of death when announced, this group featured 4-time World's Strongest Man and 2021 runner up Brian Shaw, 2 more finalists from 2021, Bobby Thompson and Konstantine Janashia, Mark Felix in his record 17th WSM contest, Gabriel Pena, and rookie Mitchell Hooper. Hooper stunned everyone, winning the first 3 events, before placing joint second on the log lift, meaning he needed just 1 point from the wrecking ball hold to secure the group win. In the stone off, Bobby Thompson had some problems with his tacky, and failed to lift the stone once, handing the win, and second qualifying spot to Shaw. It was the first time since 2009 that Shaw failed to win his group at WSM.
Controversy
A day prior to the competition, former director for World's Ultimate Strongman, Mark Boyd, leaked a secretly recorded portion of a conversation with Luke Stoltman, brother of the eventual champion of the competition Tom Stoltman, in which he stated "... and here's the sneaky bit, so Colin's (Colin Bryce, director of Giants Live who assists in the running of the World's Strongest Man) gonna, not promised, but he says we will get more favorable groups, events, etc. in Worlds if we kinda play ball and then he can help push the Stoltman brand; if that makes sense in the Giant's Live, so basically what he did for Eddie (Eddie Hall)..." The audio was released shortly after the groups for the competition were announced, with some fans speculating on the level of difficulty of the Stoltmans' groups compared to others. Boyd has since deleted this video from his Instagram account. Prior to deletion however, he claims to have given several months for athletes to expose the corruption on their own, indicating that he also had contacted IGM directors to no avail.
Stoltman released his own response video on YouTube later that day, in which he states that the clip was taken out of context, with the conversation being 90 minutes long, and explains that he simply told Boyd what he wanted to hear because he did not want to take part in Boyd's upcoming competition. [11] Many took issue with Boyd's leaking of the conversation so closely to the World's Strongest Man competition date, leading to Boyd and Core Sports parting ways a few days later, with the company releasing a message stating they were not in support of Boyd's actions. [12]
IGM, the World's Strongest Man, and Colin Bryce have yet to respond to the controversy.
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Tom Stoltman 
