The competition (which has been also referred to as 'Arnold's Strength Summit' and 'Arnold's Strongest Man' in the past) is one of the many offshoots of the Arnold festival. The Arnold Sports Festival, founded in 1989 as the Arnold Classic and named after Arnold Schwarzenegger, was originally a bodybuilding contest only. [6] However, the event expanded to include other sports and events, one of which was Strongman, introduced in 2002.
Championship history
2002
The inaugural competition, which was called the 'Arnold Strongman Challenge', was won by Mark Henry of the USA over Svend Karlsen of Norway and Phil Pfister of the USA. [8] Henry won the Apollon's wheels, Andy Bolton won the deadlift, Raimonds Bergmanis won the Hummer push while Pfister won the timber carry. Competitors were also given the opportunity to attempt the Thomas Inch dumbbell outside of the competition and Henry took the win by lifting it up to chest height.
2003
2003 was the beginning of Lithuania's Žydrūnas Savickas's dominant reign of the competition. Karlsen emerged second, while Bergmanis secured third. Savickas won Apollon's wheels and timber carry while Karlsen won medicine ball toss. The Hummer tire deadlift was introduced and was won by Brad Gillingham. The competition was called 'Arnold's Strength Summit'.
2004
Savickas won his second title over Karlsen and Bergmanis. The competition was called 'Arnold's Strongest Man' and 5 events were tested. It was also the first year a 10 man lineup was selected over the initial 8 man lineup from the previous two years. Savickas secured the wins in Apollon's wheels, medicine ball toss and timber carry. Karlsen won the hammer lift while Mark Philippi won the Hummer tire deadlift.
2005
For the second year, the competition was called 'Arnold's Strongest Man' and Savickas secured his third title over Vasyl Virastyuk of Ukraine and Glenn Ross of Northern Ireland. 6 events were tested for the first time where Savickas won the Apollon's wheels and shared the medicine ball toss world record with Magnus Samuelsson. Ross won the Hummer tire deadlift, and shared the dumbbell press win with Brian Siders and Hugo Girard. Van Hatfield won the hammer lift while Philippi won the timber carry.
2006
In 2006, the competition took its default name 'Arnold Strongman Classic' and it was won by Savickas for the fourth time over Virastyuk and Mikhail Koklyaev of Russia. Savickas raised the Apollon's wheels world record to 8 reps, won the super yoke, and shared the dumbbell win with Koklyaev and Pfister. Siders won the Hummer tire deadlift while Benedikt Magnússon won the timber carry.
2007
Savickas won his fifth title over Virastyuk and Andrus Murumets of Estonia. He equaled his Apollon's wheels world record from last year and also won the Hummer tire deadlift and super yoke. The Manhood Stone was introduced for the first time and it was won by Steve MacDonald. Virastyuk won the dumbbell press and Murumets broke the timber carry world record.
2008
Savickas won his sixth consecutive title while winning Manhood Stone [9] and sharing the dumbbell press win with American Derek Poundstone who won the overall second place. Siders won Apollon's wheels and super yoke while Murumets won the timber carry. Magnússon and Oleksandr Pekanov both broke and briefly shared the Hummer tire deadlift world record before Magnússon was given an extra attempt outside the competition to take the world record outright. Koklyaev's consistency awarded him the third place.
2009
In 2009, Savickas took a break and Derek Poundstone became the third man to win the title. [10] He also broke the dumbbell press world record. Koklyaev won the Hummer tire deadlift and took the overall second place. Travis Ortmayer of USA won Manhood stone and took overall third. Ervin Katona won the timber carry, Vidas Blekaitis won the super yoke and Siders equaled Savickas' Apollon's wheels world record.
2010
Poundstone, having broken another dumbbell press world record and won the timber carry to win his second consecutive title over returned Savickas and Ortmayer. [11] Savickas won the Hummer tire deadlift and established a new world record in the Axle. Brian Shaw of USA won the Manhood Stone after a close battle with Poundstone and Ortmayer. The number of events was reduced to 5.
2011
Just days before the 2011 contest, Poundstone was forced to withdraw due to injury and Brian Shaw became the fourth man to win the title. [12] He broke the Manhood stones world record, shared the Hummer tire deadlift win with Savickas and won the timber carry. Mike Jenkins of USA won dumbbell press and secured second place. Savickas broke another Axle world record and secured third.
2012
Mike Jenkins held off Poundstone to become the fifth man to win the title. [13] He broke dumbbell press world record and won both timber carry and the newly introduced Austrian Oak. Poundstone's consistency won him second place and Savickas secured third place after winning the Hummer tire deadlift and Axle (cleans only).
2013
The number of events were reduced to 4, and Lithuania's Vytautas Lalas became the sixth man to win the title. [14] He also won the dumbbell press. Krzysztof Radzikowski won the Austrian Oak. Overall runner-up Shaw broke another Manhood stones world record and shared the Hummer tire deadlift world record with Mark Felix. Another consistent performance earned Koklyaev the overall third.
2014
The 5 event format was brought back and Savickas won his seventh title. [15] He won the Austrian Oak and established world records in the Hummer tire deadlift and the newly introduced bale tote. Shaw came second with a consistent performance across the board and Mike Burke emerged third. Jerry Pritchett won the timber carry and there was a four-way tie for the win of the newly introduced Cyr dumbbell press between Savickas, Shaw, Burke and Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson.
2015
Shaw won his second title [16] winning the Hummer tire deadlift and a world record in the bale tote. He also shared the world record in the Cyr dumbbell for reps with Dimitar Savatinov. Runner up Savickas broke the Austrian Oak world record. Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson broke the timber carry world record and as a part of Rogue record breakers, broke the Weight over bar world record. Mateusz Kieliszkowski of Poland secured the overall third place.
2016
Žydrūnas Savickas won his eighth and final title [17] after equaling his own Austrian Oak world record. He also won the timber carry. Runner up Shaw broke world records in the Cyr dumbbell and bale tote. Eddie Hall won the newly introduced Elephant bar deadlift while Lalas secured the overall third place. As a part of Rogue record breakers, Shaw, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson and Burke set world records in Max Manhood Stone, Weight over bar, and double Thomas Inch dumbbells farmers walk, respectively.
2017
Brian Shaw won his third and final title [18] with a world record in bale tote. He also won the timber carry and as a part of Rogue record breakers, broke the Max Manhood Stone world record. The overall runner-up Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson won the Austrian Oak and broke the world record in the Sandbag over bar and as a part of Rogue record breakers, broke the Weight over bar world record. Jerry Pritchett broke the Elephant bar deadlift world record and secured overall third place.
2018
2018 marked the beginning of Iceland's Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson's winning reign, after becoming the seventh man to win the title. [19] He broke the Elephant bar deadlift world record, and won both the Axle press and Sandbag over bar. As a part of Rogue record breakers, he also broke the Weight over bar world record. Shaw won second place with a consistent performance across the board. Kieliszkowski broke Odd Haugen's Tombstone world record and Mikhail Shivlyakov secured the overall third place.
2019
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson won his second consecutive title [20] and in doing so broke his own Elephant bar deadlift world record, world record replica Húsafell Stone carry and as a part of Rogue record breakers, broke Weight over bar world record as well. He also shared the win in Austrian Oak with Kieliszkowski, Shivlyakov and Martins Licis. Licis broke the world record in the Conan's wheel of pain and secured the second place while Kieliszkowski broke the Odd Haugen's Tombstone world record and secured the third place.
2020
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson won his third consecutive title [21] becoming only the second man since Savickas to do so. He won the Elephant bar deadlift and the Sandbag over bar and held off Kieliszkowski who won trial by Stone, wheel of pain and established world records in Max Cyr Dumbbell and timber carry to second place. With another consistent performance, Licis secured the third place. As a part of Rogue record breakers, Tom Stoltman broke the Max Manhood Stone world record.
2021
The competition was not held for the first and only time in its history due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2022
America's Martins Licis became the eighth man to win the title. [22] He won the Odd Haugen's Tombstone and stayed consistent across the board. Ukraine's Oleksii Novikov came second place and broke the dumbbell press world record. JF Caron established a new world record in the Double-T Squat while Luke Stoltman and Bobby Thompson shared the third place.
2023
Canada's Mitchell Hooper became the ninth man to win the title, and the first man to win without winning a single event. [23] Runner-up Kieliszkowski won wheel of pain, timber carry and established a new world record in Steinstossen. Thompson emerged third with a win in briefed deadlift and Trey Mitchell won the Austrian Oak.
2024
Hooper won his second title [24] with wins in timber carry, Axle and a world record replica Dinnie Stones carry. Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson returned after a three-year hiatus and won the Elephant bar deadlift event. Kieliszkowski won the Stones of Strength and secured second place, while Tom Stoltman emerged third.
2025
Hooper won his third consecutive title becoming only the third man to do so. He won the Timber Carry. American Lucas Hatton won the Overhead Medley and Behind the Neck Press and secured second place on his debut at the competition. Björnsson emerged third and won the Elephant bar Deadlift and Carry and Drag. Austin Andrade won the Stone to Shoulder.
Mitchell Hooper 
