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| Birth name | Gregg Ernst | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | September 30, 1961 Lunenburg, Nova Scotia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Strongman Powerlifting | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6ft (1.83m ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Gregg Ernst (born September 30, 1961), is a former Strongman competitor and Powerlifter from Nova Scotia Canada.
Ernst is best known for competing in the 1991 and 1992 World's Strongest Man competitions, finishing 6th and 7th respectively. [1] Gregg began lifting at age 12 when his father bought him a set of weights for Christmas. [2] By age 21, Ernst was a powerlifting world champion, winning the Atlantic Powerlifting Championships in 1982 and 1983. [2] Gregg also won Canada's Strongest Man in 1990 & 1991, and the Nova Scotia Farmer's Walk in 1988 and 1989. [2] Gregg once backlifted 2422 kg (app. 5,340 lbs.) of two cars on a platform to set a world record for live weight backlifting in July 1993. This record still stands today. [2] [3] [4] At the 1992 World's Strongest Man contest in Iceland, Ernst set a world record in the Husafell Stone carry, carrying the 410 lb. stone 70 meters. [4] The record stood for 25 years.
Ernst is also a blacksmith and a beef farmer, plays several instruments, [3] and sang professionally with his four oldest sons. [5]
Jón Páll Sigmarsson was an Icelandic strongman, powerlifter and bodybuilder who was the first man to win the World's Strongest Man four times and the first and only man to win the World Muscle Power Classic five times. Jón Páll is widely regarded as one of the greatest strongmen of all time, and is credited with developing Iceland's national identity. He was named Icelandic Sportsperson of the Year in 1981, and was one of the best-known Icelandic athletes. In 2012, Jón Páll was inducted into the World's Strongest Man Hall of Fame.
Magnús Ver Magnússon is an Icelandic former powerlifter and strongman competitor. He is a four-time World's Strongest Man, having won in 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest strongmen of all time.
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.
Strength athletics, also known as Strongman competitions, is a sport which tests competitors' strength in a variety of non-traditional ways. Some of the disciplines are similar to those in powerlifting and some powerlifters have also successfully competed in strongman competitions. However, strongman events also test physical endurance to a degree not found in powerlifting or other strength-based sports, such as carrying refrigerators, flipping truck tires, and pulling vehicles with a rope.
Paul Edward Anderson was an American weightlifter, strongman, and powerlifter. He was an Olympic gold medalist, a world champion, and a two-time national champion in Olympic weightlifting. Anderson contributed significantly to the development of competitive powerlifting.
Žydrūnas Savickas is a Lithuanian powerlifter and professional strongman. Due to his 84 international wins in major international strongman competitions including four World's Strongest Man championships, eight Arnold Strongman Classic championships, two IFSA Strongman World Championships, and over 70 world records, he is widely regarded as the greatest strength athlete of all time.
William Kazmaier is an American former world champion powerlifter, world champion strongman and professional wrestler. During the 1970s and 1980s, he set numerous 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 all-time greatest competitors in strength competitions and was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.
Lifting stones are heavy natural stones which people are challenged to lift, proving their strength. They are common throughout Northern Europe, particularly Iceland, Ireland, Scotland, Basque Country, Faroe Islands, Wales, North West England centered around Cumbria, Switzerland, Southern Germany centered around Bavaria, Austria and also in the United States and parts of Asia such as Japan.
Derek Arturo 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.
Nick Best is an American strongman and powerlifter.
Anthony Wayne Clark was an American powerlifter, holder of the world record for the reverse-grip bench press and member of the York Barbell Hall of Fame.
Thomas Magee is a Canadian former world champion powerlifter and strongman competitor from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was also a bodybuilder and a professional wrestler from 1985–1990.
Laurence Cristiaan David Shahlaei is an English YouTuber, strength sports commentator, analyst, coach, and a retired strongman and powerlifting competitor. He won the 2016 Europe's Strongest Man competition.
Louis-Phillipe Jean is a Canadian strongman competitor and entrant to the World's Strongest Man competition on multiple occasions.
Oders Dell Wilson Jr. was an American world champion powerlifter and world champion strongman competitor.
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 30 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, many strength analysts and strongman experts regard Hafþór as "the strongest man to have ever lived".
Peter Tregloan is a British former strongman and powerlifter. He has won a number of titles including nine world championships in powerlifting and is the current world record holder in squat, deadlift and total weight for the masters age class.
The Húsafell Stone is a legendary lifting stone weighing 186 kg (410 lb) located in a west country farming estate in Húsafell, Iceland about 132 km (82 mi) northeast of Reykjavík. The slightly triangular, slab shaped stone is kept at a sheep and goat pen built from natural stones by Reverend Snorri Björnsson in the early 19th century, and was made famous by the legend of his daughter Guðný Snorradóttir carrying it. The stone has been used as a test of physical strength by either simply lifting the stone, or by lifting and carrying it around the sheep and goat pen. The stone is also known as pen slab (Kvíahellan in Icelandic), because its original purpose was to act as the gate to the sheep and goat pen, ensuring the animals remain in the pen without escaping.
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).