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.
Mariusz Zbigniew Pudzianowski, also known as "Pudzian" and "Dominator", is a Polish mixed martial artist and former strongman competitor. With 43 international victories at a record 70% winning percentage and over 20 world records in his strongman career, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest strength athletes of all time.
Mark Jerrold Henry is an American former powerlifter, Olympic weightlifter, strongman, and retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his 25-year career in WWE.
Douglas Ivan Hepburn was a Canadian strongman and weightlifter. He won weightlifting gold medals in the 1953 World Weightlifting Championships as well as the 1954 British Empire Games in the heavyweight division. He is also known as the first man to bench press 400, 450, 500, and 550 pounds (raw). During the 1950s he was publicly known as the "world's strongest man" for his many feats of strength. Hepburn has been inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame (1953), Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (1955), and the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame (1966).
Jouko Ahola is a Finnish former strongman, powerlifter and actor. He is a two time World's Strongest Man winner, a two time Europe's Strongest Man winner, and is regarded as one of the best pound for pound strongmen in history.
William Kazmaier is an American former world champion powerlifter, world champion strongman and professional wrestler. During his illustrious career, he set over 40 powerlifting and strongman world records, and won two International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) World Championships and three World's Strongest Man titles. In the 1980s, Kazmaier became famous for his claim to be "the strongest man who ever lived" by equaling and surpassing spectacular and versatile feats of strength of famous strongmen of the 20th century. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest strength athletes of all-time, and was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.
Bench press world records are the international records in bench press across the years, regardless of weight class or governing organization, for bench pressing on the back without using a bridge technique.
Derek Anthony Poundstone is an American police officer, former professional strongman and strength coach from Woodbridge, Connecticut. He was the runner-up at the 2008 World's Strongest Man, a two-time Arnold Strongman Classic champion, and a three-time winner of America's Strongest Man. Poundstone is also a high-ranking officer for the Naugatuck, Connecticut Police Department and is the former owner and landlord of an apartment complex and gym.
Honoka is a Japanese TV personality, actress, writer and former adult video (AV) performer who retired from the AV industry in 2008.
Benedikt "Benni" Magnússon is an Icelandic strongman and powerlifter, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest deadlifters of all-time. He held the raw deadlift world record from 2011 to 2022 with 460.4 kg (1,015 lb), and it remains the heaviest raw deadlift ever done in conventional stance.
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, Shaw 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. Shaw has also set more than 25 world records in deadlifting, stonelifting, keg-tossing, grip related movements and more.
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson is an Icelandic professional strongman who is widely regarded as one of the greatest strength athletes of all time. He is the first and only person to have won the Arnold Strongman Classic, the Europe's Strongest Man, and the World's Strongest Man competitions in the same calendar year and holds numerous Strongman titles from multiple strength federations, including multiple world records. With 31 international competition wins, he is the third most decorated strongman in history, behind Lithuania's Žydrūnas Savickas and Poland's Mariusz Pudzianowski, and in terms of pure brute strength and with over 100 world records, many strength analysts and Strongman experts regard Hafþór as "the strongest man to have ever lived".
Kurds in Japan refers to Kurds residing in Japan. Kurds do not have a majority nation state and live in Kurdistan, a region that includes Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq in the Middle East and South Caucasus.
Krzysztof Edward Radzikowski is a professional strongman competitor from Głowno, Poland. He has competed in 112 International strongman competitions and has won 24 of them, making him the sixth most decorated strongman in history following Žydrūnas Savickas, Mariusz Pudzianowski, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, Brian Shaw and Aivars Šmaukstelis.
Jean-François 'JF' Caron is a French-Canadian strongman and powerlifter from Les Hauteurs, Quebec, Canada. Having competed in 73 International strongman competitions and winning 10 of them including World's Strongest Viking twice, Caron is among the 20 most decorated strongmen of all time.
Edward Stephen Hall is a British media personality and a retired strongman. He is best known for his world-record setting 500 kg (1,102 lb) deadlift in 2016. He is also known for winning 2017 World's Strongest Man competition.
Luke Skaarup is a professional engineer and also a retired professional strongman from Canada who competed actively in the sport of strongman from 2007 to 2015. During his competitive career, he held many records, most notably the Canadian record for heaviest atlas stone ever lifted in competition, the Ontario record for heaviest deadlift, and the Ontario Record heaviest dumbbell press. He competed in over sixty competitions with his top placings being the 2 x Ontario's Strongest Man Champion, 4th at North America's Strongest Man (2014), and 8th at the World Amateur Strongman Championships (2012).
Martins Licis is an American professional strongman, notable for winning the 2019 World's Strongest Man, the 2022 Arnold Strongman Classic, and the 2021 Rogue Invitational strongman championships.
Oleksii Novikov is a Ukrainian professional strongman. He won the 2020 World's Strongest Man competition, becoming the second Ukrainian to win the title since Vasyl Virastyuk in 2004, and at 24 years, 278 days, he is also the second youngest winner in history, being only seven days older than Jón Páll Sigmarsson in 1984. He is also a two time World's Ultimate Strongman, the 2022 Rogue Invitational champion, and the 2022 Europe’s Strongest Man.
Rob Kearney is a retired American professional strongman competitor. He won the Giants Live North American Open in 2017 and the Arnold International World Series Australia in 2019. He is also a four time qualifier for the World's Strongest Man competition, and a three time participant in the Arnold Strongman Classic. He is also a two-time American log lift record holder, with a competition best of 476 lbs in 2020.
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