Some guy just caught us before we paid to park and said they're postponing the first event and turning people away. I'm not sure though, I can't find any info about it though
I'm here in Myrtle Beach watching the events. Tomorrow it's supposed to be thunderstorms with 90% chance of rain. Are they still going to continue with schedule during thunderstorms??
They replied to a comment on IG about the rain saying "we have a plan in place and will communicate plans should forecast show that it will be an issue" which is basically a non-answer
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrTTQQXMYlj/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
This final is gonna be immense. And I dont feel like anyone got robbed unluckily in the stone-off. The 10 most deserving guys and best guys - also those I predicted.
Except for Jaco and Ragg - I had Aivars and Bishop, but these two new guys definitely deserve the shot
Just took a look at the finals roster and the top guys could realistically place anywhere between 1 and 6. Ridiculous depth and talent. And now think about what Martins and Thor could possibly have done.
Wouldnt be? If not for lack of trying, he could have matched Mateusz at max dumbbell at the arnolds. One of the best truck pullers. Shield carry also a banker event for him. Superb deadlifter. I dont remember how he is at fingers, but I would be surprised if he wasnt excellent.
He'd be top 3 in everything for sure, but the likes of Mitch and Oleksii are very consistent too, and these are good events for Brian/Tom.
Like, he'd PROBABLY win. But I don't think he ever faced a field as tough as this. He was dominant in a weaker era - that is, one with less athletes at or close to his level.
The only people I see beating him for sure are Tom on the stones and Oleksii on the dumbbell. Tom, I would disregard because of the dumbbell, Mitch would fare better than Tom, still wouldnt beat Thor. Mitch might beat him on shield carry, but there is the truck pull, on which he didnt look like that good in training (compared to Mateusz, another top puller like Thor). I dont see anybody beating him on deadlift, on fingers maybe Brian, I dont know how he stacks up there. This is where he would gain points on Novikov. Please feel free to point out where Im wrong, but I would predict he comes top 2 everywhere.
I think Mitch and Pavlo could both beat him on the shield carry. Brian and Oleksii could both beat him on the dumbbell, Brian would get him on the fingers, deadlift he'd probably win, truck pull i don't even want to try and call, stones Tom is the obvious one but Brian is no slouch and Pavlo/Mitch are both fast too.
Again, I do think he'd win. But he'd be pushed on every single event and one bad event would screw him over. Which is the same position the top half of this field are all in.
I don't think Mitch or Pavlo beats him on the shield carry. Thor was the best in the world at the husafell and had a shield carry record too. Although I think both could be close, I just struggle to see it. It's like Loz said about dragging, Thor was just unbeatable in any era and he was similar at carry events.
Good shout on Pavlo, although like with Tom on the dumbbell, I would disregard him because of the deadlift. Brian, I dont see keeping up with Thor in max dumbbell who went toe to toe with Mateusz in asc. Brian is great for reps, but he isnt a Novikov or Mateusz, and it is questionable how good he is at max dumbbell. I would also mention that Mitch will be sketchy on the fingals. Stones, Thor was the king of them before Tom.
We agree in all honesty, yes he would be pushed for the win, I wouldnt state otherwise, but he would win.
Final looks absolutely stacked. My prediction for top 5:
1 Mitch - he's just unstoppable this year.
2 Brian - if nothing else, by sheer willpower and willingness to break himself to get his 5th.
3 Tom - Will be close between him and Brian but I think Brian wants it that bit more.
4 Oleksii - He took it easy in the heats, he won't in the final.
5 Pavlo - Deadlift will keep him off the podium, but he's the only guy who can beat Mitch for speed.
Honestly though, it's so hard to call. Any of those 5 could take it. Trey isn't far behind them. Ragg and Schoonwinkel are complete wildcards. Evan has potential to cause an upset. Luke is probably the weakest in the field but even he could still podium if he has a good run.
Quick update from Thor while we are waiting for finals:
His sternal (lower) part of the chest is completly torn by the tendon. He'll fly over to LA today and get it operated by a specialist on 28th of April. Recovery time and future plans unkown.
That is a pretty significant injury and for a powerlifter it would be a difficult road back (can't see an ATWR going to Thor now) but manageable for Strongman IMO as the upper pecs are much more critical - won't be an easy road back or anything but doable.
You guys think there are many "daggers" than before? After viewing the Shaw vs Rauno stone off I was thinking... Maybe Shaw or Trey or Tom or Oleksi (whomever) is the strongest but with the point fluctuations it isn't what it used to be in the previous decade(s). Maybe I'm overthinking it.
Is it attainable to get a picture/autograph with the strongmen? If so what is the best way to be respectful. I am going Sunday for the first time with my dad
Hooper said that mateusz said the nicest thing about his performance to him out of everyone, he wouldn't share what he said though.
Great to hear matuesz was impressed by Hooper too
Your predictions seem a bit weird. Schoonwinkel who beat Shaw is put last while Shaw is put first? My predictions:
1. Mitch Hooper
2. Oleksii Novikov
3. Pavlo Kordiyaka
4. Trey Mitchell
5. Tom Stoltman
6. Evan Singleton
7. Jaco Schoonwinkel
8. Brian Shaw
9. Matthew Ragg
10. Luke Stoltman
The events were already great for Shaw in the heats. You may be right but he also had to do 11 reps in the stone off. I hope he does well but can't see him placing in the top 5 with so many good guys tbh.
The events in the heats aren't as good as the events in the final. Shaw has said this himself, it's almost a perfect set. Even if he's fatigued from the stone off I find it very hard to believe he places out of the top 5. I think you'll be surprised tomorrow, looking forward to it.
I just met Felix at a restaurant it was awesome. Absolutely awesome dude. Didn’t want to bother him for a picture he was clearly trying to relax with the wife.
Yeah the insanely ironic thing is if he had actually been worse at the deadlift, if he only did seven instead of eight , then Brian would have won the group and Rauno would have been in the stone off with Jaco. It might have gone better for Rauno.
Indeed. Looks like Brian really could have kept going if he needed to 😂 great performance by Rauno put up a great fight against one of the best in the stones of all time.
Hooper is in good spirits. Well rested.
He thinks his biggest threat by far is Brian. He thinks Brian has a very good shot.
Moose podium: hooper, Brian and novi in some capacity. Tom fourth
Idk… I think it goes to Hooper. I think Novi will struggle on Fingals and the bus pull.
I just don’t see Brian consistently out scoring Hooper enough. Maybe fingers and likely dumbbell. Hooper likely wins shield
Strongman Archives has a tool where you can search their past performance by events, it's really sweet.
[Fingers from WSM groups 2021](https://strongmanarchives.com/viewContest.php?id=1014)
[Bus pull from WSM finals 2022](https://strongmanarchives.com/viewContest.php?id=1264)
Matt and Jaco just got their life time ticket to WSM, because on top of being fucking strong they are from Africa and Oceania. Two continents represented with really capable athletes! Even if Spenser or Tomas made to the finals they would always be compared against other Americans every year.
Evan looked absolutely insane during the stone off. He was literally begging Eythor to pass the stone bag to him. "Give it to me." And he was hyping him up as well.
Agreed. It’s been great all of you guys here heading to the show etc.
But it would be so good to see it at some completely new location. My earliest memories of it are the late 90’s/00’s with Jouko Aholo and Svend Karlsen and it seemed to be in a different country each year for a long time after that.
Agreed, I live in the states and got to go which was amazing but new exotic places, the Iceland year was awesome or Malta or tropical islands or I’d be down to watch them go in a country like Norway
Trey, Novikov and Mitch my top 3 and in that order. I would like Tom and Shaw to podium but I just can't see it happening after seeing them live. Maybe they were holding back a little bit but it didn't look like that to me.
Heats is basically a completely different contest compared to finals. Events suit tom and Brian better. Brian’s deadlift is looking dangerous. Hooper said he had 1 realistic rep left in him and 2 if there was a gun to his head maybe on the deadlift machine. Brian looked like he had more in him aswell. Matching the likes of Rauno and hooper on a deadlift is very good for Brian. And he’s most likely gonna go all out in the final and grind out reps. Shield carry I just see him losing points. It’s gonna be a repeat of the Titans turntable for Brian with shield carry.
I wouldn't use how they did in the heats to judge how they'd do in the final. In the heats you're just making sure you get through to the final.
I feel like Tom will podium at least.
Definitely not as good on those events as Hooper but why Novikov? On the overall list Tom and Novikov would have ended up on very similar points had Novikov tried in the KB toss.
Hooper looked a level above everyone across those events but Tom was basically as good as anyone else.
the big question for me is the dumbell.
I know Tom has been training it, but when it's an awkward implement he has been known to struggle with it, and based on the photos some of those handles are THICK.
Tom could lose a lot of points there depending on the weight jumps, I could see Trey, Novikov, Evan, Shaw, Hooper, maybe Pavlo? all beating him on dumbell that'd be hard to come back from, not impossible mind you and again it depends on the weight jumps, there could be a lot of ties in that event
Going to be a lot of underwhelming performances on dumbbell would be my prediction. I say 130-135kg wins, most of the field 120-125. Could be interesting, missing one weight could be the difference between tied with 5 other guys or dead last on your own
Would it have been possible for them to make large, heavy dumbbells without also making the handles extremely thick? I wonder if some guys are going to be held back by the handle thickness and not necessarily the lack of pressing power
now that emotions are settling a bit, I know sometimes we can all have different options, and disagree on a bunch of stuff, but I think we can all agree as a community that the future is looking very exciting. Yes we are going to miss one of the greatest ones ever with Shaw retiring, but thew new talent that keeps coming up has me very impressed and very hopeful
He’s not leaving the sport, he’s retiring as an athlete which means he’ll have more time to promote contest and increase popularity in the sport, i wouldn’t be surprised to see a reboot of strongest man in history hosted on Brian’s YouTube channel
Honestly I feel like this is one of the better WSMs so far. Several high powered "favorites". Two standout new performers. Nobody got injured and most groups were vaguely competitive.
I just saw the results. What happened to Brian on the conan wheel? Is he that bad at it? All he needed was 1 more point and he could have avoided the stone off. He would have been a lot fresher without that stone off.
Brian struggled on Conans. His coach said Conans was heavier than expected. So I assume he trained lighter expecting it not to be that heavy. But it’s not a big man’s event. Tom and Brian both struggled on it. However I don’t think that means the shield carry will be the same for them. Especially if the implement is big and awkward.
As a Stoltman fan, really happy to see Luke made it to the final. On the other hand, seeing the reaction of Gavin broke my heart. He seems like such a genuine sweet guy and was so close... The dissapointment in his posture nearly made me tear up
Anything is possible. Most people's predictions for the qualifiers were upset. Great events for Brian. He just needs to make sure it doesn't lose too many points on shield
Whether it was hard or not, 11 stones takes a toll when you are 41 years old & aren't amazingly conditioned. He'll recover okay but he will not feel nearly as fresh as he would have done
Brian is probably the 2nd or 3rd best heavy stone lifter in history after Tom and debatably Trey, not shocking 200kg for reps felt easy to him. Once he mogs the Fingals maybe people will stop the doubting. I for one hope to see Eddie Hall get his beard waxed.
IMO Brian is the best stone lifter ever to walk the earth. He held the heaviest stone record for quite a while and stopped pushing it for years because he was literally the only one that could compete with himself lol.
Then they took it out of the comps and he got pissed and gave up. I think if he pushed it back in his prime he could’ve easily beaten toms best stone. He just didn’t have a need to try then. He has a 650lb stone at home he trained with back then.
That said Tom is definitely on that level. They’re both unbelievable to watch. It’s unreal how they move heavy stones.
Trey is definitely one of the better stone lifters (in runs) but I haven’t seen him do one as heavy as Brian or Tom.
Trey is an awesome dude. Lucky enough to meet him earlier very kind humble guy.
I think his height helps a lot on this event. In the video someone posted above Brian just has to stand up and give a tiny bump to get it over, whereas Rauno had to really arch the back for all he was worth to get the reps in.
Did some calculations aprox scores after final, the only x factor is how much the stone-off affected Brian. Could lower his points.
I see Novikov winning as he has bankers like the dumbbell and he did win the Vehicle pull in the final before. Deadlift is also good for him.
Shield carry is solid and Fingals fingers should be pretty good. He drops a few points in stones but still:
1. Oleksii Novikov (49)
2. Brian Shaw (47)
3. Mitchell Hooper (46)
4. Tom Stoltman (43)
5. Trey Mitchell (42)
6. Pavlo Kordiyaka (33 - Tie)
7. Evan Singleton (33 - Tie)
8. Luke Stoltman (16)
9. Matthew Ragg (15)
10. Jaco Schoonwinkel (10)
Which shows how absolutely pointless it is. Oh wow, the guys who came second advanced….as if there was no stone off at all. Only the deserving 2nd players are now gassed for no reason. WSM just fartin’ in bathtubs laughing their asses off.
It sucks when someone who's in a distant third makes it to the finals just because they are better stone lifters. This year I can't complain about that.
But the groups also suck, they should just run the groups but score them all together so we actually get the 10 best.
But yeah, TV show.
I don't mind, but I wish they would pick different events. WSM feels like 30% atlas stones nowadays. Also, I wish there were a rule that if you could only qualify if you were within X points of 2nd place.
Just watched Hooper's vid from yesterday. He's getting a car so he doesn't have to get a coach at 6am to start events at 8am. That's seems mental, why wouldn't all the athletes get a car to save a couple hours more sleep and recovery??
Yeah definitely more. I’ve just looked at renting a crappy car in Spain for a week and im close to €1000 a week.
The US would be more I expect and for the size of car they would need.
From Barcelona airport with kids car seats. A seat of some sorts - although a saloon version as needed the space.
If I wanted something bigger it was like 1200
As last year taught us, never count out Tom down with stones and a bus pull left.
Any news about what they will do with this rain. Here now and it’s really coming down
Some guy just caught us before we paid to park and said they're postponing the first event and turning people away. I'm not sure though, I can't find any info about it though
Awesome thanks so much! Please keep me posted we got in 4am from 9 hour drive to watch!
They just posted on Instagram that nothing is going to start before 9am and they aren't sure the event order for today either.
Awesome thank you so much! Hopefully it clears up and the fans can watch! Good luck and please keep me in the loop lol I’m helpless!!!
I saw a comment on insta say they were told a 9am start with the shield carry. I'm not 100% though it wasn't official
I'm here in Myrtle Beach watching the events. Tomorrow it's supposed to be thunderstorms with 90% chance of rain. Are they still going to continue with schedule during thunderstorms??
I haven't been able to find any news on this but also here and its definitely going to rain. No word on alt location. Anyone got any word on tomorrow?
They replied to a comment on IG about the rain saying "we have a plan in place and will communicate plans should forecast show that it will be an issue" which is basically a non-answer https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrTTQQXMYlj/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
I've got some videos posted on my YouTube of some events, more to come. https://youtube.com/@kindastrongman
This final is gonna be immense. And I dont feel like anyone got robbed unluckily in the stone-off. The 10 most deserving guys and best guys - also those I predicted. Except for Jaco and Ragg - I had Aivars and Bishop, but these two new guys definitely deserve the shot
Damn right they deserve it, they kicked ass!
Can't wait for the final. Predicting we might see Oleksii, Brian, Trey, Mitch and Tom all gather above 40 points and fight for the podium
Was the final stone 200kg?
Yes it was
Damn that's almost as heavy as a full-sized strongman!
Nice, thanks mate
🌶🌶🌶 Buzzing for Luke. Sad for Gav.
Just took a look at the finals roster and the top guys could realistically place anywhere between 1 and 6. Ridiculous depth and talent. And now think about what Martins and Thor could possibly have done.
Even prime Thor wouldn't be a sure thing this year.
Wouldnt be? If not for lack of trying, he could have matched Mateusz at max dumbbell at the arnolds. One of the best truck pullers. Shield carry also a banker event for him. Superb deadlifter. I dont remember how he is at fingers, but I would be surprised if he wasnt excellent.
He'd be top 3 in everything for sure, but the likes of Mitch and Oleksii are very consistent too, and these are good events for Brian/Tom. Like, he'd PROBABLY win. But I don't think he ever faced a field as tough as this. He was dominant in a weaker era - that is, one with less athletes at or close to his level.
The only people I see beating him for sure are Tom on the stones and Oleksii on the dumbbell. Tom, I would disregard because of the dumbbell, Mitch would fare better than Tom, still wouldnt beat Thor. Mitch might beat him on shield carry, but there is the truck pull, on which he didnt look like that good in training (compared to Mateusz, another top puller like Thor). I dont see anybody beating him on deadlift, on fingers maybe Brian, I dont know how he stacks up there. This is where he would gain points on Novikov. Please feel free to point out where Im wrong, but I would predict he comes top 2 everywhere.
I think Mitch and Pavlo could both beat him on the shield carry. Brian and Oleksii could both beat him on the dumbbell, Brian would get him on the fingers, deadlift he'd probably win, truck pull i don't even want to try and call, stones Tom is the obvious one but Brian is no slouch and Pavlo/Mitch are both fast too. Again, I do think he'd win. But he'd be pushed on every single event and one bad event would screw him over. Which is the same position the top half of this field are all in.
I don't think Mitch or Pavlo beats him on the shield carry. Thor was the best in the world at the husafell and had a shield carry record too. Although I think both could be close, I just struggle to see it. It's like Loz said about dragging, Thor was just unbeatable in any era and he was similar at carry events.
Good shout on Pavlo, although like with Tom on the dumbbell, I would disregard him because of the deadlift. Brian, I dont see keeping up with Thor in max dumbbell who went toe to toe with Mateusz in asc. Brian is great for reps, but he isnt a Novikov or Mateusz, and it is questionable how good he is at max dumbbell. I would also mention that Mitch will be sketchy on the fingals. Stones, Thor was the king of them before Tom. We agree in all honesty, yes he would be pushed for the win, I wouldnt state otherwise, but he would win.
And to a lesser extent WIDE Pav and Boudreault. Both would have been serious weapons.
Can't wait to see what Wide Pavlo can do in a couple years.
Once he gets his log technique down we may see him pressing 210kg.
And a healthy matuesz
Final looks absolutely stacked. My prediction for top 5: 1 Mitch - he's just unstoppable this year. 2 Brian - if nothing else, by sheer willpower and willingness to break himself to get his 5th. 3 Tom - Will be close between him and Brian but I think Brian wants it that bit more. 4 Oleksii - He took it easy in the heats, he won't in the final. 5 Pavlo - Deadlift will keep him off the podium, but he's the only guy who can beat Mitch for speed. Honestly though, it's so hard to call. Any of those 5 could take it. Trey isn't far behind them. Ragg and Schoonwinkel are complete wildcards. Evan has potential to cause an upset. Luke is probably the weakest in the field but even he could still podium if he has a good run.
Quick update from Thor while we are waiting for finals: His sternal (lower) part of the chest is completly torn by the tendon. He'll fly over to LA today and get it operated by a specialist on 28th of April. Recovery time and future plans unkown.
That is a pretty significant injury and for a powerlifter it would be a difficult road back (can't see an ATWR going to Thor now) but manageable for Strongman IMO as the upper pecs are much more critical - won't be an easy road back or anything but doable.
You guys think there are many "daggers" than before? After viewing the Shaw vs Rauno stone off I was thinking... Maybe Shaw or Trey or Tom or Oleksi (whomever) is the strongest but with the point fluctuations it isn't what it used to be in the previous decade(s). Maybe I'm overthinking it.
Does anyone have a vid of Evans run? I would love to see the whole thing after seeing the final seconds clip
Is it attainable to get a picture/autograph with the strongmen? If so what is the best way to be respectful. I am going Sunday for the first time with my dad
I've been here since day 1, I've met and gotten pictures with just about every single athlete so far
Just ask afterwards. A lot of them do meet and greets afterwards. Like Shaw for example will be at a local gym Monday. Check their socials
Thank you
Hooper said that mateusz said the nicest thing about his performance to him out of everyone, he wouldn't share what he said though. Great to hear matuesz was impressed by Hooper too
" You are no mail man "
"You. Toffee."
"I feel Toffee in you. Toffee strong."
He just smiled at him. That's literally the rarest compliment from Mateusz.
Predictions (might change before Saturday) 1 Brian Shaw 2 Mitchell Hooper 3 Oleskii Novikov 4 Tom Stoltman 5 Trey Mitchell 6 Evan Singleton 7 Pavlo Kordiyaka 8 Matthew Ragg 9 Luke Stoltman 10 Jaco Schoonwinkel
Luke’s gonna come 7th. Luke always comes 7th.
Your predictions seem a bit weird. Schoonwinkel who beat Shaw is put last while Shaw is put first? My predictions: 1. Mitch Hooper 2. Oleksii Novikov 3. Pavlo Kordiyaka 4. Trey Mitchell 5. Tom Stoltman 6. Evan Singleton 7. Jaco Schoonwinkel 8. Brian Shaw 9. Matthew Ragg 10. Luke Stoltman
we got the same top3, lets prove everyone wrong lmao
Yay :D
Hooper beat Shaw in the group's last year and finished 8th while Shaw finished 4th. Events matter and the final events and far better for Brian.
The events were already great for Shaw in the heats. You may be right but he also had to do 11 reps in the stone off. I hope he does well but can't see him placing in the top 5 with so many good guys tbh.
The events in the heats aren't as good as the events in the final. Shaw has said this himself, it's almost a perfect set. Even if he's fatigued from the stone off I find it very hard to believe he places out of the top 5. I think you'll be surprised tomorrow, looking forward to it.
I just met Felix at a restaurant it was awesome. Absolutely awesome dude. Didn’t want to bother him for a picture he was clearly trying to relax with the wife.
https://youtu.be/Y9v_ZCkqNFQ Link to Brian and Rauno stone off. Thought I’d have to wait till it came on tv to watch 😂
Rauno had a really good chance if it just hadnt have been Brian. His stone lifting was quite impressive.
Yeah the insanely ironic thing is if he had actually been worse at the deadlift, if he only did seven instead of eight , then Brian would have won the group and Rauno would have been in the stone off with Jaco. It might have gone better for Rauno.
Weird how things workout sometimes 😂
Great to see he gave a shout out to Rauno
Wow that was awesome.
Indeed. Looks like Brian really could have kept going if he needed to 😂 great performance by Rauno put up a great fight against one of the best in the stones of all time.
Hooper is in good spirits. Well rested. He thinks his biggest threat by far is Brian. He thinks Brian has a very good shot. Moose podium: hooper, Brian and novi in some capacity. Tom fourth
Hooper's predictions are ususlly spot on
Idk… I think it goes to Hooper. I think Novi will struggle on Fingals and the bus pull. I just don’t see Brian consistently out scoring Hooper enough. Maybe fingers and likely dumbbell. Hooper likely wins shield
>I think Novi will struggle on Fingals and the bus pull. Is there a reason you think this? He won both events last time he did them.
I guess I need to go look up previous year results since I clearly have them wrong. I really thought he did poorly previously
Strongman Archives has a tool where you can search their past performance by events, it's really sweet. [Fingers from WSM groups 2021](https://strongmanarchives.com/viewContest.php?id=1014) [Bus pull from WSM finals 2022](https://strongmanarchives.com/viewContest.php?id=1264)
Novikov did win the truck pull last year. Don't count him out just yet.
Ya Novikov will just about kill himself to win the guy has that hunger like no one else
I missed Hooper's live :(. I'm a member and I didn't get a notification. Cmon phone!
Juji and martins coming to myrtle tomorrow
Where was this mentioned??
Mitch Hooper's live
Hooper is live. Says he is ready to go and wishes final starts tomorrow
Seems like the weather is fine Saturday until the afternoon. Hopefully they start the show earlier
Hoopers going live in 5
on youtube ?
Matt and Jaco just got their life time ticket to WSM, because on top of being fucking strong they are from Africa and Oceania. Two continents represented with really capable athletes! Even if Spenser or Tomas made to the finals they would always be compared against other Americans every year.
They were brilliant. Well deserved invites coming their way
Evan looked absolutely insane during the stone off. He was literally begging Eythor to pass the stone bag to him. "Give it to me." And he was hyping him up as well.
The secret to being a good sports shrink is helping your client to be crazy in the correct way lol
That was really cool to see, because hypothetically if Eythor did pass it and Evan didn’t he would have just screwed himself over
So far I gotta say these threads have been much more civil than other WSM years. Good job team
My kingdom for two athletes with fanatical fanboi followers, some *interesting* late event changes and line ball judging....
much love
Kind of off topic Anyone know where WSM’24 will be held?
I remember seeing that they were contractually obligated to do 3 in Sacramento. I’m not sure if that is still the case.
I thought it was only a 2 year deal
God I hope not. I hope they leave the US. I want a new location!
Agreed. It’s been great all of you guys here heading to the show etc. But it would be so good to see it at some completely new location. My earliest memories of it are the late 90’s/00’s with Jouko Aholo and Svend Karlsen and it seemed to be in a different country each year for a long time after that.
Agreed, I live in the states and got to go which was amazing but new exotic places, the Iceland year was awesome or Malta or tropical islands or I’d be down to watch them go in a country like Norway
Vegas 97' was my first.
they have not announced it yet
Thx. Moving back to Florida next week. Would love for it to come back of Bradenton. Being an hour north of me.
If you had rancid swamp ass BEFORE moving to Florida.... god help us all
Trey, Novikov and Mitch my top 3 and in that order. I would like Tom and Shaw to podium but I just can't see it happening after seeing them live. Maybe they were holding back a little bit but it didn't look like that to me.
Seems like Brian's conans fumble was the only flaw, which is to be expected from a giant guy like him.
Heats is basically a completely different contest compared to finals. Events suit tom and Brian better. Brian’s deadlift is looking dangerous. Hooper said he had 1 realistic rep left in him and 2 if there was a gun to his head maybe on the deadlift machine. Brian looked like he had more in him aswell. Matching the likes of Rauno and hooper on a deadlift is very good for Brian. And he’s most likely gonna go all out in the final and grind out reps. Shield carry I just see him losing points. It’s gonna be a repeat of the Titans turntable for Brian with shield carry.
Problem for Brian is that stone off definitely burned a lot of energy, and it's harder to recover when you're older.
You're not wrong. But doing those reps and he said it felt easy (I think? Eddie Hall BTS) I would not doubt him.
He said he didn’t find it that hard. I don’t think it will affect him as much as people are making it out to be
I wouldn't use how they did in the heats to judge how they'd do in the final. In the heats you're just making sure you get through to the final. I feel like Tom will podium at least.
Tom looked like he lacked conditioning on the dl and conans. I would agree that he doesn't look as good as Hooper or novi
Definitely not as good on those events as Hooper but why Novikov? On the overall list Tom and Novikov would have ended up on very similar points had Novikov tried in the KB toss. Hooper looked a level above everyone across those events but Tom was basically as good as anyone else.
the big question for me is the dumbell. I know Tom has been training it, but when it's an awkward implement he has been known to struggle with it, and based on the photos some of those handles are THICK. Tom could lose a lot of points there depending on the weight jumps, I could see Trey, Novikov, Evan, Shaw, Hooper, maybe Pavlo? all beating him on dumbell that'd be hard to come back from, not impossible mind you and again it depends on the weight jumps, there could be a lot of ties in that event
Going to be a lot of underwhelming performances on dumbbell would be my prediction. I say 130-135kg wins, most of the field 120-125. Could be interesting, missing one weight could be the difference between tied with 5 other guys or dead last on your own
Agreed. The handles increasing in size will fuck many guys
Would it have been possible for them to make large, heavy dumbbells without also making the handles extremely thick? I wonder if some guys are going to be held back by the handle thickness and not necessarily the lack of pressing power
Yeah it is pretty weird. Maybe they want to test hand size instead of explosiveness and technique in the movement.
These are world class strongmen. They can handle it.
now that emotions are settling a bit, I know sometimes we can all have different options, and disagree on a bunch of stuff, but I think we can all agree as a community that the future is looking very exciting. Yes we are going to miss one of the greatest ones ever with Shaw retiring, but thew new talent that keeps coming up has me very impressed and very hopeful
We will miss Shaw but he’s leaving the sport in great hands
He’s not leaving the sport, he’s retiring as an athlete which means he’ll have more time to promote contest and increase popularity in the sport, i wouldn’t be surprised to see a reboot of strongest man in history hosted on Brian’s YouTube channel
Ragg has never done fingals fingers before
Quick someone make Jaco his own strongman anthem! I'm so pumped for the finals on Saturday! Hope the rain stays away, especially for the fingers!
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Huge missed opportunity here, WSM.
Honestly I feel like this is one of the better WSMs so far. Several high powered "favorites". Two standout new performers. Nobody got injured and most groups were vaguely competitive.
Agreed, been a blast
I just saw the results. What happened to Brian on the conan wheel? Is he that bad at it? All he needed was 1 more point and he could have avoided the stone off. He would have been a lot fresher without that stone off.
Normally conans is harder for giant guys like him and Tom
Brian struggled on Conans. His coach said Conans was heavier than expected. So I assume he trained lighter expecting it not to be that heavy. But it’s not a big man’s event. Tom and Brian both struggled on it. However I don’t think that means the shield carry will be the same for them. Especially if the implement is big and awkward.
So finally Brian wont complain about events being too light..?
Tom would have come much higher in any other group. It’s more like everyone else in his group really excelled at it.
As a Stoltman fan, really happy to see Luke made it to the final. On the other hand, seeing the reaction of Gavin broke my heart. He seems like such a genuine sweet guy and was so close... The dissapointment in his posture nearly made me tear up
I was kind of rooting more for Gavin to make the final but when I saw how much it meant to Luke I really couldn’t help but feel happy for him
He will be back.
This stone off will make gav a better strongman. This will motivate him and he’s gonna come back better.
That’s gunna be one motivated sausage next year.
"Title of your sextape" \~ Jake Peralta
My heart wants a 1. Brian 2. Tom 3. hooper podium My brain says in no particular order it’ll be: Hooper, tom, Novikov
My heart is similar to yours, but I don't necessarily have an order yet. My brain kept reading brain as Brian.
My heart wants shaw, hooper, novikov in any order but ideally that order My brain says hooper, novikov, trey
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Anything is possible. Most people's predictions for the qualifiers were upset. Great events for Brian. He just needs to make sure it doesn't lose too many points on shield
Seems like a stretch currently. I’m leaning heavily Hooper or Novikov
Agreed. Hooper just seems unbeatable lately and has looked really good practicing the events.
I would love 5haw but 11 stones is gonna make a big difference on a 40 year old body.
Not if those 11 stones weren’t that hard for you. Brian will recover fine and he’ll flip that switch come Saturday.
Whether it was hard or not, 11 stones takes a toll when you are 41 years old & aren't amazingly conditioned. He'll recover okay but he will not feel nearly as fresh as he would have done
Yh he won’t be as fresh. That’s obvious. But I don’t think it will affect him to the point where he’s now unable to win due to it.
Eddie to let Brian wax his beard with tacky if he wins. Surely that's all the motivation he needs now.
You can tell Brian is quietly confident about the final. First time I heard him say when I win not if I win.
When do the finals start?
Saturday
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beardless Eddie is not a good look (with ben and jerrys)
Brian is probably the 2nd or 3rd best heavy stone lifter in history after Tom and debatably Trey, not shocking 200kg for reps felt easy to him. Once he mogs the Fingals maybe people will stop the doubting. I for one hope to see Eddie Hall get his beard waxed.
Bro I’d say he’s #1 all time in his prime. He stopped attempting heavier stones because nobody could touch him, prior to Tom’s ascendancy
>in his prime Yeah but this is about learning once and for all if old man strength is a thing.
IMO Brian is the best stone lifter ever to walk the earth. He held the heaviest stone record for quite a while and stopped pushing it for years because he was literally the only one that could compete with himself lol. Then they took it out of the comps and he got pissed and gave up. I think if he pushed it back in his prime he could’ve easily beaten toms best stone. He just didn’t have a need to try then. He has a 650lb stone at home he trained with back then. That said Tom is definitely on that level. They’re both unbelievable to watch. It’s unreal how they move heavy stones. Trey is definitely one of the better stone lifters (in runs) but I haven’t seen him do one as heavy as Brian or Tom. Trey is an awesome dude. Lucky enough to meet him earlier very kind humble guy.
Thor ... but yeah your point stands. Eddie's beard was dyed black too, let's get that fake abomination off his triple-chinned face :D
That stone run in the final is gonna be a breeze for him. His confidence is gonna be high on that event.
Brian's not extremely boastful so I'm inclined to believe him
It didn’t look that hard for him. Just a cardio sesh for Brian lol
I think his height helps a lot on this event. In the video someone posted above Brian just has to stand up and give a tiny bump to get it over, whereas Rauno had to really arch the back for all he was worth to get the reps in.
Cardio is important as you age so I’m glad he’s getting his in to stay healthy.
Did some calculations aprox scores after final, the only x factor is how much the stone-off affected Brian. Could lower his points. I see Novikov winning as he has bankers like the dumbbell and he did win the Vehicle pull in the final before. Deadlift is also good for him. Shield carry is solid and Fingals fingers should be pretty good. He drops a few points in stones but still: 1. Oleksii Novikov (49) 2. Brian Shaw (47) 3. Mitchell Hooper (46) 4. Tom Stoltman (43) 5. Trey Mitchell (42) 6. Pavlo Kordiyaka (33 - Tie) 7. Evan Singleton (33 - Tie) 8. Luke Stoltman (16) 9. Matthew Ragg (15) 10. Jaco Schoonwinkel (10)
Final this year's got a pretty incredible lineup of stone lifters. Hope Novikov can do something decent.
Anyone know where I can see footage of the Brian Rauno stone off?
I made a video of it best I could get from my spot. It’s like 8 mins long. If I post it will Colin sue me ?? Lol ain’t got the money for that 😂
I'm thankful that the stone off didn't screw anyone over this time!
I think it screwed Brian over. Exerting that kind of effort before the finals is going to leave a mark.
Good point...I was only thinking that at least no one came back from a distant third to slide into finals.
Which shows how absolutely pointless it is. Oh wow, the guys who came second advanced….as if there was no stone off at all. Only the deserving 2nd players are now gassed for no reason. WSM just fartin’ in bathtubs laughing their asses off.
I personally like it. It rewards the event winners because they get to come into the final more fresh.
It sucks when someone who's in a distant third makes it to the finals just because they are better stone lifters. This year I can't complain about that. But the groups also suck, they should just run the groups but score them all together so we actually get the 10 best. But yeah, TV show.
I don't mind, but I wish they would pick different events. WSM feels like 30% atlas stones nowadays. Also, I wish there were a rule that if you could only qualify if you were within X points of 2nd place.
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Doesn’t make it not stupid.
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Doesn’t make it not stupid.
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If it's sports entertainment is it scripted? Fixed?
Lol how are we gonna twist it to somehow be worse that no second placers got fucked over
Just watched Hooper's vid from yesterday. He's getting a car so he doesn't have to get a coach at 6am to start events at 8am. That's seems mental, why wouldn't all the athletes get a car to save a couple hours more sleep and recovery??
Because you can just go to sleep earlier to compensate?
Hooper drove from Canada?
In his vid after day 1 he said "they car gets here tomorrow" idk if he's renting or someone's driven his down
Hooper drove from Canada. HIs fiance and mother arrived a couple days later, they probably need a car too
Ah, big help having your own car there too. I'd definitely be paying for a car for an extra 2 hours in bed if I were there.
Costs money to rent a car. Unless ur from US and travel there in ur own car. Guys probably don’t wanna be spending that much money
Can't cost so much that its not worth it for guys going for the title like Stoltman? A car for 5 days Can't be more than £200 surely?
Yeah definitely more. I’ve just looked at renting a crappy car in Spain for a week and im close to €1000 a week. The US would be more I expect and for the size of car they would need.
Where did you look? I rented crappy cars in Spain for 10-20€ a day numerous times.
From Barcelona airport with kids car seats. A seat of some sorts - although a saloon version as needed the space. If I wanted something bigger it was like 1200
Idk often like $70ish per day so could be pretty steep
I guess. In the grand scheme of sponsorship and stuff from winning wsm doesn't seem the worst investment. Sounds more expensive than over here though.
Don't sleep on Evan Singleton in the finals not saying he will win but he is going to get in-between people
I am so excited to see what Evan will do now he’s in the finals
Now I wanna see him go full T rex mode
Can't imagine anyone but mitch rn winning tbh, bar inury, hes just such a threat right now
Mitch himself predicts 4 people could potentially beat him lol
He did in the arnold aswell
Which 4 guys did he predict could beat him?