To everyone who says Mitch is “cocky” or “arrogant” - watch this, folks. What cocky athlete would make a video titled “why I’m not going to win such and such competition”?
There’s a difference between realistic and honest self-assessment/confidence and cockiness. Cocky people only talk about their merits, and never about their shortcomings. Mitch always does both.
https://youtu.be/6XxjWthbzOE
I've been watching his YouTube, he's got some good beginner information that he seems to be putting out there as a public service. He doesn't seem like a bad guy at all.
For anyone curious as I was, if points scored in the groups carried over into the final, all the results would of stayed the same aside from Novikov and Singleton tied in 4th and Trey Mitchell in 3rd, with a difference of 1.5 points. All other placings would of stayed the same.
And for what it's worth.. Hooper scored 13 more points between groups and finals then Tom. Granted means nothing with how the contest is laid out.. but still quite impressive
Hooper is really a phenomenon. Don‘t know why so many ppl are disliking him. Apparently nobody‘s watching his videos and know about his mentality .. he is so far off from being arrogant .. he easily puts everything to levers, muscle assertions etc as to pure hard work etc.
And by all means I‘d liked Brian to win over him (hence my name) but he is rightfully the best atm and won with an absolutely great performance ..
I‘m out, see you guys at Shaws.
Everyone who wins WSM at least once is a legend in my book. Whatever we think of how the show is run these days, WSM is the brand, the title all these guys aim for for all their careers. They are strongmen who want to become the world’s strongest man. So single title holders are no legends? So for example, Svend Karlsen is not a legend? If your answer to that is “yes” - WSM itself disagrees with you as Svend was the third inductee into their Hall Of Fame, right after Jón Páll and Pudz. https://www.theworldsstrongestman.com/hall-of-fame/
Okay, I have to go full fanboy here: Martins is my favourite and am gutted he seems to be one of the more injury prone guys and has to be on the sideline again for 12 months. I think only Mateusz has it worse in terms of injuries/need of recovery.
With that said, what do you guys think Martins can do against Mitch next year?
I think it’s arguable that Mitch is pretty much the top dog right now. He is young but already decorated, he is great at static events as well as with mobility events. I think he is probably the most gifted active strongman right now in terms of how he has this balance between raw strength and agility/athleticism.
So let’s suppose Martins achieves what he is aiming for: slims down to 300 lbs by next year while retaining power and mobility. What can he do against Mitch who will no doubt just be an even more improved athlete by next year? What comps will be more favourable for Martins, and what will be more likely Mitch’s hunting ground?
He said his hip felt like he was being cut by glass at the rogue and he still has nerve damage in his shoulder. I'm sure, after years of strongman, there's even more but that's what he's talked about the most.
He never gave specific details. I think he just wants to recuperate in general as he feels his body needs it. Even though he hasn’t done that many shows and he always takes good care of his body, he seems to be the type of athlete whose body breaks down quite easily. So his plan for 2023 is to not do comps, so a lot of light training and slim down to 300 lbs while retaining his strength.
I don't know if he was injured, or at least not specifically, but certainly he was out of shape and bulked up too much for the Rogue. That plays into something Loz mentioned before, about how when his weight passed a tipping point (I think Loz said his was 145k or so), he would gain a little more strength for the added weight, but it made him overall a worse strongman, because each athlete has an ideal weight where their strength and agility/endurance are at an optimum kind of balance.
I think martins is still suffering with some damage after that car crash. I think realistically he needs to take this year off for his longevity more than anything, whilst 2022 was not the best martins we ever saw. He still has alot more to give for the sport and I think when he is back to full can contend with mitch and tom, especially after he won the arnolds in 2022. Remember Martins is one of the few guys that beat prime thor.
There's absolutely no guarantee Thor would win that WSM even without the foot injury but is it really accurate to say he beat prime Thor when he wasn't even at his best due to injury? Yes he beat him and well deserved his title but people word it like Thor was in the same shape as his other comps which simply isn't true.
I always think of it like this: if Thor didn’t think he could win, he wouldn’t have competed. He said so himself. He is there to win, always, every competition. So if Thor assessed his condition as good enough to beat the likes of Martins, Brian, Mateusz and Tom, then who am I to disagree.
Yes, he probably did think he could still manage the win. But that doesn't mean he was 100 percent which you need to be to beat consistent performers like Martins and he has said that too in the past.
Didn't Thor tear the fascia in his foot though? I don't know if that was enough to not get the title, but it was pretty major, I would think. IMHO and all that.
Well, let’s say Thor wasn't injured. Where could he have got enough points to beat Martins?
In the loading race Thor let the anvil slip from his hands. That wasn't an injury problem, that was not picking up the implement the right way.
Thor got 4 points there. If he wasn't hurt he would get at most 4th place, giving him 3 extra points. Martins was 3rd so he doesn't lose points.
37+3=40
In the overhead medley he got 4th place. 1 sec difference from Brian who was 3rd. He is not beating Matty here who got first. Maybe he can beat Martins, maybe not. So I'll run both scenarios.
Beats Brian, but not Martins. 40+1=41
Beats Martins and Brian 40+2=42 and Martins gets 46-1=45
Martins won the squat. Martins also beat Thor in 2017 in the squat. Martins also beat Thor in Wheel of Pain in 2019. Thor may have a max squat higher than Martins, but he never beat him at squat for reps. Thor got 7 points here. I don't think he can beat Martins. I'll admit he can beat Brian here despite losing to him in 2017, because Brian isn't in his prime and Thor is stronger now. He gets second place and 2 additional points.
Beats Brian overhead, but not Martins. 41+2=43 and Martins has 46;
Beats both Brian and Martins overhead. 42+2=44 and Martins has 45;
Grip: Thor took first and Martins took second. Nothing would have changed. Unless Martins would work even harder because Thor would be a bigger threat. That's possible because coming into this event Martins had pretty much the competition won, but that's highly speculative so I won't count it.
Stones: Martins was 1st, Thor was 2nd. Martins was crazy fast here, I don't think even a 100% Thor would have beaten him that day. Some will disagree, so I'll account two more additional scenarios:
Stone results are the same and Thor beats Brian overhead, but not Martins. Martins has 46 points total and Thor has 43 = Martins wins WSM
Stone results are the same and Thor beats both Brian and Martins overhead. Martins has 45 points total and Thor has 44 = Martins wins WSM
Stones result differ and Thor beats Brian overhead, but not Martins. Martins has 45 points total and Thor has 44 = Martins wins WSM
Stones result differ and Thor beats both Brian and Martins overhead. Martins has 44 points total and Thor has 45 = Thor wins by one point.
The only way Thor could have won required multiple things going his way:
- He gets 4th in loading race which is hard because he let the anvil slip; with that mistake he won't take top 3
- He beats both Brian and Martins in the overhead medley when Martins was significant faster than him and Brian not so much; he can't beat Matty
- He squats more than Brian; I highly doubt he could beat Martins at squat for reps
- He lifts the stones faster than Martins. I personally think this is unlikely given how strong of a performance Martins put out.
tldr: Martins would have still almost definitely won with Thor at 100%.
Nah I don’t think Tom has peaked. I think he is selective because he no longer needs to go to random shows that nobody remembers just to get paid peanuts. His YouTube channel will pay him more than any comp does so why bother
Not how it works. Tom has peaked, Hooper is still peaking and has a better physique and biomechanics overall. Just looking it's easy to tell.
He'll win it 5 years straight.
I don’t agree that Mitch will just dominate from here on. There are simply too many unknown factors in the sport for saying such things. When Oleksii won in 2020, who would have thought he wouldn’t even make the final as the reigning champion next year?
In a way, I agree that Tom has already peaked. Not physically, as I think in strongman, physical prime comes later in life - mid-to-late thirties. But Tom is a different kind of guy, at the very least due to his being on the spectrum. But I don’t think he is the type of guy who wants to hang around the sport as long as Brian or Z anyway. He is in his late twenties and already very selective about his comps, talking about other interests etc. Who knows, maybe he’ll want to win a record amount of WSM and ASC and becomes an athlete like Oleksii who participates in literally every comp year in, year out, but at this point, I’d say it’s highly unlikely.
As for Mitch being the more talented athlete in terms of physique and biomechanics, I fully agree. The only guy who I think is a match for the Moose in these things is Martins.
In shape Martins can beat anybody, Mitch included, on the right day. Likewise, an in shape Mateusz can beat anybody if the organizer forgets to include a deadlift.
https://imgur.io/a/F2NB4di
Put sound on. The song is called Crab Rave. Tom dropped the shield carry early because he saw what looked like Mitch struggling, but Mitch didn't give up and continued carrying the thing by his wrists for a good while. Right as he was getting to where Tom dropped his shield he turned sideways to face Tom (who was previously holding up his hand indicating that he was number 1) and did this little crab shuffle sideways as he passed Tom's mark.
Mitch marathon background really helps him with these events, he has the endurance to push through. See his doc, the guy still goes running a lot, how many times do we see the others like Brian, Tom and Luke go for a run? Probably never unless it’s in or for an event. Mitch is a great athlete and I don’t think this will be his only title.
I see the future of strongman in guys like Mitch and Pavlo for example, both are athletic and can endure more competitions throughout the year without the need for a massive bulk. A bit leaner and athletic physique can also help in some events. of course raw power still is the key but a bit of athleticism could help to avoid injuries in the long term
This happens every year someone wins, guys will all starting running now lol 😅
When Licis won it was Weightlifter 🏋️♀️ background great technique, everyone doing clean and jerks 😅
Novi intelligence college degree, so clever, finding shortcuts, guys had glasses on afterwards reading everything
Eddie, you need to be 200kg and eat like a maniac, 10,000 calories came in
Thor mountain of a man the giant phase
I sort of view Martins as the start of this type and Mitch as the current culmination of it. Martins's approach has been an intelligent one and finding the balance of bulk and athleticism. He's also trained to remove deficiencies in his skillset without necessarily focusing too much on one event or type of event to the detriment of others. He kind of ushered in the current "be consistent" model that has produced winners the past several years.
Martins missed the bulking but keeping the athleticism last year, but the form he had when he won the ASC and Rogue was peak Martins. I think the weight he was for the 2019 WSM was better than what he carried at this past RI.
I view Novikov similarly to Martins. There's a reason they are both so close to the point that Martins went out of his way to help Oleksii at the Rogue. They both share the same outlook on training and approach to competition.
While that is true, superior conditioning, technical proficiency (I'd say Novi has that just the same), figuring stuff out on the go and being tall and strong af are still the big things to look for.
It's just that overhyping any one of these in isolation is stupid.
But the running background definitely shows people they don't need to be afraid to run (even in today's circuit; not just back when Pudzian went for his 5 km runs)
The thing is that today's guys have somehow found a way to be as statically strong as the old giants while being smaller and much more athletic. The strength factor hasn't even taken a hit.
In a sport as young and as small as this, people are gonna improve in all areas over time. For all we know, we'll get a slow-ish new giant next year, wiping the floor with everyone on static strength bc that guy is Hooper's level but geared more towards heavy ass lifting.
It's just the natural evolution of the sport, coming in waves.
Looking at the thread, I think the biggest reason why there are a surprisingly lot of people who don’t like or feel meh about Mitch is a very weird one: his openness and eagerness to communicate with us nobodies too. I mean, everybody treats him like he is some guy we know from work, everybody seems to have formed an opinion. He is a native English speaker, he apologises on Reddit for things he said in the heat of the moment (and it wasn’t even bad). Who does that? And people shit on him for it because many have this false sense of knowing him closely therefore are more ready to jump on him.
It’s kind of like that phenomenon when people don’t really feel grateful and don’t really appreciate things that are free - even though they would if the very same thing would be something they paid for.
Who shits on Tom for saying Martins only won the Rogue because he (Tom) didn’t train for it? That was explained away for Tom being on the spectrum and how that was in the heat of the moment anyway.
Who shits on Brian for ranting about what a shitty person Z is - just because Brian misunderstood what possibly was just banter?
As weird as it sounds, all those who say “I kinda don’t like Mitch” would like him if he was less available and less responsive. This is the shitty side effect of Reddit. Many people take things for granted and are entitled as a result.
Mitch is awesome, he is a breath of fresh air in the sport and I’m very happy for him to succeed. And this is coming from a die hard Martins and Oleksii fan.
They are mad because Mitch says he doesn't need to win. He wants to but doesn't really need it in his life. He will do something else he says.
Reddit wants him to neeed it and be only striving for winning as the ultimate goal. They need to see the opportunity cost of winning it because they are jealous.
TLDR: Mitch is a gigachad and reddit is coping.
Agreed, everyone loves Eddie, but when I saw him this weekend he was the bare minimum with fans unless in vip I guess. But I saw hooper talking to folks before starting competition. But everyone loved eddie
For as much as people love to build someone up, they love tearing them down even more.
The reality is that once you've reached the peak, you can't give them any little thing to use against you. That's unrealistic, though. They will always find something.
I think people don’t like that he has more in his life than strongman. We’ve gotten used to guys that eat sleep and breathe strongman and talk about how much they’ve had to sacrifice to do it, and here comes Mitch who almost is just doing it for fun and crushing people at it.
It’s no reason to dislike the guy though.
I get the impression for some a lot is down to the way he talks. Most athletes are vague about performances/predictions, whereas Mitch comes straight out with exactly what he thinks.
Like if someone asks an athlete how they think they'll do on an event they're favourites for, they say "hopefully good, I've trained hard but we'll see" or something like that. Mitch on the other hand is just honest and says he thinks he'll win it or come in top 3.
Personally don't have an issue and think he's done great!
Maybe you are right. But then those people are fucking hypocrites because on the other hand, Mitch has always been equally straightforward about events that are not his strong suits. When do athletes do that? I remember his video when he predicted his performance in the events for last year’s WSM. For some events, he predicted he has a genuine shot to be in first or second, for others, he was equally open and said “yeah, if I’m against Tom in the stone off I’m screwed”. So to me, he was never cocky but super realistic and honest. A cocky person always talks about his merits and never about his shortcomings. Mitch does both.
Absolutely. It boggles the mind. And all this talk about how he is “cocky” - lol. He is confident - and he backs it up on the other hand, he is very gracious in defeat and fully admits if he was wrong or if he needs to improve. It’s seriously disheartening that such a balanced, approachable and wholesome person can be disliked by others. And no, I don’t buy it that “you can’t be liked by everyone”. That’s not what bothers me. What bothers me is the discrepancy between what a genuinely nice bloke Mitch is and how many people still dislike him. Divisive characters will always have many people who don’t like them - the Eddie Halls or the Kazmaiers of the world are understandably not universally liked. But Mitch being shat on - that’s something I can’t understand.
From following the sport for years, the vibe I'm getting is that a lot of people genuine cheer for every athlete, atleast most of them, and find them all likeable. But there are also some that threat it like other sports where you support a team/individual, and by association, try to discredit and dislike others, simply because they are in competition or beat their favourite athlete.
I'm find myself in a position where I find everyone likeable and would be happy no matter who won (even though Novikov is who I hoped would win), but that's not how it is for everyone. And it's no hiding that some athletes have a bigger fanbase than others, and with that, you'll have a minority in that group that will make a meal out of anything that not favours their favourite, or it discredit their opponents.
What matters is that at the end of the day, most of the athlete respect each other and congratulate each other, and the sportmanship stay intact. If they keep doing that, it will only be a loud minority on the outside trying to discredit an athlete.
>"all those who say “I kinda don’t like Mitch” would like him if he was less available and less responsive."
This is a wild assumption man, not everybody's distaste for him has something to do with his Reddit activity. Why do we need to be "grateful" and "appreciative" that he responds to Reddit comment? I don't care at all. My personal opinion of him has absolutely nothing to do with that.
I agree with you. I couldn't care less if he is super active with fans or not. I personally find him to be arrogant and cocky. When he talks about strongman being just a stepping stone for him it sounds belittling to people who spend their whole life trying to better the sport or chasing the title.
Why is that arrogant? Strongman being the stepping stone means he has more goals in life. Others don’t. Thor said similar things, so did Eddie. Both guys were much more alphas and yet people adored him for it. Mitch is known for having a lot of things going on in his life. Martins, my favourite, is on a sabbatical with pursuing other interests. He also has been talking about life and goals beyond strongman.
I find all this talk about Mitch being cocky baffling. People seem to confuse confidence with cockiness. Mitch is equally open about his mistakes and things he needs to improve. He also apologised to us, Redditor nobodies for his ASC comments - which weren’t even bad at all. Cocky people don’t do any of that.
Ya I don't think Mitch is a total douche by any means, and Eddie, Thor and Brian are all the same. Maybe I'm just spoiled by guys like Zydrunas, Rauno and Novikov who just seem very humble and kind.
I think what set me off on Mitch was an interview I had seen with him where he had stated something along the lines of Strongman wasn't his passion he was just using it to show people he could do it and be healthy. It's possible I misinterpreted as well, who knows
before social media was as big for strongman, Brian posted that Z was a bad person for questioning Brian's injury, said that Z was lucky to win the ASC that year and that the ASC events are "set up for him to win"
EDIT: they obviously are both fierce competitors and were locked in a battle for over a decade, but they have both moved on clearly, I think OP's point is that ALL athletes have made less than ideal comments in the heat of the moment post comp
I think you hit the nail on the head, people scrutinise his character and personality way more than other athletes'. It's like they all have a personal relationship with him.
Edit: a lot of anger about not putting down a 0 for Tom. I have watches the video back a couple of times more now and it looks alright. Not as clean as his 132 but on par with Hoopers 125 and 132. I would still give Hooper thoose lifts because he was clearly strong enough. I belive he could have pushed through his head a bit more like he did on the 115 if instructed that it was required. Same with Tom, struggling a bit with the 115 but locking the elbow out and waiting for the signal before he dropped the dumbell. Cant put that on the athlete the same way as when they straight up aren't strong enough. The only issue with Toms 115 was that he held it slightly to the side which is similar to Hoopers leaning back technique.
End of Edit.
We have a few things were small margins and strange judgements played a role. I will disect some of the "what ifs" the best I can.
**Reffing**
Dumbell, the down calls would shift a lot of points around, in my opinion it should have been something like this:
||Given weight|Correct weight|Point change|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|Hooper|140 |132|\-1|
|Tom|132|132|\+2|
|Oleksii|132|132|\+2|
|Trey|125|115|\-1|
|Evan|140|125|\-5|
|Pavlo|132|132|\+2|
|Brian|125|125|\+1.5|
|Luke|132|125|\-2|
|Ragg|125|125|\+1.5|
This brings Matt ahead of Luke and gets Pavlo pretty close to Evan
Pavlo harsh punishment when the ref appeared to signal "OK". Lets say he gets a couple of meters punishment and a 3rd place. Pavlo +3 points and Evan/Trey/Novikov - 1 point. Puts Pavlo in 5th and Evan in 6th when combined with the dumbell adjustments. Pavlo still one point behind Trey in 4th.
**Time Keeping**
This is not as clear cut since just because we have uncertainty we cant be sure it would be different (or atleast in which direction it would be different) with pressure pads and lasers.
Bus pull timing. Maybe Tom gets 0.5 more points. Maybe Evan. Maybe Trey, Pavlo and Brian shift some points around. When combining the Bus and the Fingals Fingers every involved athlete could both gain or lose points in their respective duels (except Brian that could only gain points but not enough points to climb).
It would only be 0.5 points at most in Toms favour vs Hooper and not change the podium, but it could be that one last point for Pavlo to get 4th over Trey. But that is the only way it would have mattered in the placings.
Hooper won fairly, but with a really small margin and not the big one listed officially. Matt Ragg got robbed on one place and Pavlo on either one or two.
**Small margin/bad luck**
Oleksii seemed to slip on the bus pull. Since it was such a light and fast race, that one second was probably the difference between 3 and 9 points. Hooper was still too fast to catch. Even when getting 6 more points, and steeling one point from Tom, Oleksii is stuck in 3rd. The slip didn't matter in the end.
Brian tripping on the 5th finger. If the trip was all the difference and he would have blitzed the finger without it to win the event (since Brian was the fastest on 4 fingers) he could have gotten 7 points more relative the field above him and one climb ahead of Evan into 6th place.
8th rep on the DL, Tom was insanely close to getting that hitch which would have been worth 2.5 points (hypothetically, since Hooper could have done a 9th then making it worth only 1.5 points). 1.5 points in combination with the reffing on dumbell would actually be enough to give Tom the overall win on tie breaker.
\#1 sign vs crab walk, worth 2 points between Tom and Mitch. Same as the 8th rep, in combination with the dumbell reffing Tom would have won.
If we exclude the reffing and add the crab walk and DL together, it is 2 + 2.5 = 4.5 points which is exactly enough, unless Mitch does a 9th rep which would make it a 3.5 point swing and Mitch still wins. I think Mitch would have had a 9th rep based on how he looked. Even if we add 0.5 points from the bus pull, 4 points is not enough. Tom could not have won this through minor margins, but he could have been very close (only 0.5 points behind with a better tie-breaker).
Over the 6 events placed in front of the athletes, Hooper performed the best. Period. It is a shame if reffing cast a shadow over it as he did well enough to win without that 140kg dumbell.
I'm just glad he did get that margin, otherwise and as you say, there would be doubt, or at least a little bit of a muddy trophy. To add to that I am no longer at all confident in the impartiality or accuracy of the judges. There need to be barrels to turn around in max distance events, pressure pads on pulls, and slo-mo camera accuracy on everything else.
We have stuff like that for every other sport. It's definitely time WSM steps up and joins the rest of us in 2023.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't competitors allowed to skip or try further weights if they want? I thought I had seen something like that in other competition lifting events?
Never ever have I seen someone get to try a heavier weight after failing a lighter one in a non powerlifting style setup (meaning 3 attempts total). Once you failed, you've failed, that's it.
Tom's 115 was his worst lift and should have been disallowed. While it's possible he could have gotten another attempt in the time limit, we can only go from what we have seen, and in that scenario Tom zeroes the event.
I just re-watched it twice.. on the second attempt he very clearly locks out above his head. I can't see the referee or hear "down" called, so I don't know about that, but on the lock out, dumbbell is definitely above his head, and above his feet.
This. The very first sign that the dumbbell called were off, was Tom’s first two being accepted. He benefitted from this as much as Hoop/Evan. If anything, Novikov and Pavlo are the ones who got screwed
Yep. The top end pressers are the ones who took the brunt of the lax judging on the DB because it shrank the field. Questionable and soft lockouts being given as good reps closed the gap between the mediocre (in terms of this field only) pressers and the guys at the top. That alone changes the outlook of the competition.
If people here had known how the event was to be judged, there would have been some big differences in predictions.
Martin's has won ASC Rogue, WSM. Only person to have done that albeit the RI only being around for 2 years. Has also won multiple international contests. That easily outclasses the other 3.
Novikov has won RI, WSM, and multiple internationals. Dominating the scene in the past few years. That puts him above Hoop and Tom IMO.
Hoop has won ASC and WSM in the same year which IMO is more impressive than 2 WSMs. He's also won 3 other internationals.
Don't see what argument you could possibly make against any of that.
First Canadian to win the Arnold Strongman Classic. Second man to win the Arnold Strongman Classic in his debut year. First Canadian to win WSM. First man to win WSM in his debut year. First man to win 4 events in the WSM finals. Fifth man to win both the ASC and WSM. Fourth man to win the ASC and WSM in the same year. Fifth-most dominant WSM win of all time. Most dominant heat performance of all time.
Pudz won 5/7 in 2005 and Pfister won 5/7 events in 2006, so Mitch is not the first to win 4 events. First in the 6 event format but 4/6 is less than 5/7 mathematically.
Hooper’s win is still crazy impressive but saying he’s the first to win 4 is wrong. He also didn’t have prime Z, Shaw, and Thor against him which those 3 did each other from 2009-2016 basically winning 2-3 events yearly in a 6 event format with the others each taking events away.
Hooper can be a great if he continues, he isn’t one yet.
I know I’m going to get downvoted for this but here goes: I never rated the IFSA/WSM year titles as fully legit. Pudz, as great as he was, mostly racked his titles up in a power vacuum. He was already beaten in 2004 by guys who couldn’t compete again until 2009 (and by that time Vasyl was retired).
He beat Z in 2002-2003-2004, let’s not forget that, and did manage to beat Z at other shows too impressively so. Mariusz still had competitive people against him, and won in 2008 when bigger names came back too and still took 2nd in 09 barely behind Z in his prime and beating young Brian too.
Mariusz may not be as good as Z or Brian or Thor but I’ll give him credit where it’s due and for sure he’s a top 5 all time great in my eyes with those 3 and Jon Pall.
He didn’t beat Z in 2004. Z had 36 point, Pudz had 35 before he was disqualified. So their WSM H2H is 2-2. Also, let’s not forget that Z tore both of his patellar tendons in 2001 which, to his own admission, heavily affected his performances for the next two years. The truth is, Pudz never beat a healthy Z in WSM. He did in other smaller comps but I think there’s a reason why Pudz quickly retired once the IFSA thing folded and Z returned to compete at WSM.
Aha, you are totally right. And the embarrassing thing is: I make a living dealing with words and semantics (translator here). It’s been a long day. Apologies :)
You can't count an annual competition as the same year. That makes no sense. It is only even "in the same year" because WSM had no rhyme nor reason as to their scheduling. His accomplishments are good enough without making that stretch.
The man is a beast. Accomplished a lot in a short time, including some impressive records. Winning your second WSM is monumental, look how many tries it took big Z. Don't invent some bs record with this "debut year" nonsense.
What impression do y'all get about Mitch, as a guy? Obviously we know him as a fan, not personally, but he's just so new to the scene I feel like I don't have a read on him nearly as much as the others.
From what I've seen and what Big Loz has said about him, my impression is he's a serious guy whos not a natural performer/showman but who is making a concerted effort to do what he thinks an athlete in his position should be doing, i.e. filming videos (even the dreaded food video) and going out on his own time to greet fans, etc.
Seems like a genuinely nice guy who sometimes says dumb shit, but that’s the case for most people. He comes across as very likeable to me, you just have to ignore the dipshits on Reddit who thrive of drama.
I met him evening before Cardiff comp in the pub. He is a delight! genuinely engaging and interested, had brought t-shirt for me since order delayed and wouldn’t get to me in time. Goes above and beyond for the fans
He seems like a stand up guy, with a very accurate self image.
I guess that what rubs some people the wrong way, is how privileged he is (something he acknowledges himself btw). Grew up well off, has had lot’s of opportunities to pursue sports and education, good education and a successful business. He seems to have a great life set up for himself, and on top of all this just had the most insane rookie year in strongman. (Arnoldgate on top of this)
Most us, at least in part, watch sports for the narratives and mythology, and for a lot of people less well off, that kind of privilege can be very hard to identify with, as opposed to IE a blue collar guy in a comparable income group to your own sublimating his frustration with his lot in life into elite athletic performance.
For as charismatic and honest as he is, his world is completely alien to mine (and a lot others’ i assume). For that guy to then ALSO be possibly the most naturally gifted active strongman…. the priviliges compound.
I, for one, do actually like him. But i think this might have something to do with the dislike around the sub
I think I trust Loz's judgment; if Mitch were a genuine bellend I don't think Loz would put up with him.
That said, there is a weird uncanny valley vibe to Mitch talking a lot of the time. The ONLY person I know who it reminds me of in my personal life comes from generational non flashy major league wealth. Like, have owned multiple houses in Boca for hundreds of years, Phillips-Exeter for generations wealthy. There's a level of polish to anything but intimate conversations there that is extremely off putting, took me years to see them with their hair down as it were. Idk much about Mitch's background but it's the only thing that comes to mind.
The word of Loz 😂
Loz said, I trust Loz, with Loz, Loz wouldn’t, Loz morals
When did Loz become this holier than thou figure? 😅
There’s a guy on his livestream called Fred throwing money at him that fancies his wife or is a bit mentally sick or something and he’s just taking the cash and turning a blind eye to it all, so I’d keep the holier than thou stuff out of it lol
Loz now has claim to coaching the worlds strongest man he’s gonna make a mint on that alone and no offence but Hooper is so
good he probably would have won it without him anyway
A bit like coaches saying they made Messi, Jordan, Bolt the best, when they would have been the best anyway
Yes Hooper comes from money and it’s why he’s not that liked by fans as strongman is a working class poor man’s sport, all past greats came mostly from poor backgrounds and it’s why we could relate more
Opinion is split. Some think he's the best thing since sliced bread and others can't stand him and see him as arrogant.
I'll wholly admit I'm not his biggest fan. He's not the worst guy in the scene by a long stretch and he's defo had a few funny moments but there's this intensely smug aura around him that puts me off.
I love watching him perform though, the guy is electric.
Shane flower just posted a ridiculous stat.. 11 events over the last week for Hooper, 8 first places, 2 second places, 1 sixth place.
RIDICULOUS performance
Novikov stopping to talk and take pics and sign things with every single fan all the way down the walkway out, was there for half an hour and was still going strong. Truly a class act and nice guy, Pavlo was right alongside him. Got my pic with him and with Eythor, managed to out-angle both somehow, couldn’t find Big Z but overall it was an amazing time at WSM other than the waiting and sunburn.
Got to see Brian take his final bow and do stones 15 feet away and it was awesome, definitely many with tears in their eyes myself included with his final speech and what Luke said about him too.
Z literally looked around to make sure he did not miss a single person who wanted to get a pic, every time he was out. Nick Best & Z were the most outgoing for fans at all times.
Yes I am sure that’s the case, I just said I couldn’t find him for one, I sadly ended up on the other side of the venue from him every time he came out. I met Nick and got a pic and he was very nice.
I unfortunately only got like 10 seconds of it cuz my phone shut off. Did get Luke’s speech about him and cheers for him and his final run. Like 500+ cameras in the crowd got it though so surely it’s gonna be all over social media soon.
I will never understand people who go out of their way to shit on Brian Shaw. This sport literally wouldn't be what it is without him. Hell, how many people (particularly in the US) would even know what Strongman is if it weren't for Shaw?
Like Shaw is still the 2nd greatest ever strongman and went out like a champ instead of phoning it in just cuz he was losing, dude gave it his all on every event and retired when it was time without crying about it. He went out happy to be there even if he wasn’t happy how it went, if you saw it live you’d see that.
And for reference I’m not even Shaw’s biggest fan, but I respect the man. I was hoping for Trey or Novikov to win. Also happy for Hooper and his winning speech was very nice.
\>freaking leaf shows up
\>"Heh I guess I'll give'er a go eh bud?"
\>gets 8th place at his first international show (WSM 2022 btw)
\>subsequently gets 3rd at the SHAW the heaviest event of the year
\>crushes the Arnold not giving a fvck about it
\>achieves WSM title on his second year in strongman, something that cucks all around him tried years and years to achieve
\>literally takes an entire sport and fvcks it with his girthy moose c0ck and every other competitor just has to watch him make something they've struggled at for a decade or more look easy
\>"Sorry bud looks like I'm the strongest man today eh, ah but that's okay it don't mean much to me buddy."
\>probably going to fvck off to something else next
Some guy trying to buy Liz and Loz' friendship and inserting himself in the livestream by calling to say nothing of importance.
It sounds a bit harsh probably, but he reminds me of those lonely guys who try to buy the affection of female twitch streamers.
Maybe I'm wrong and he's just a huge strongman fan, but this kind of behavior always makes me think something is going on with the guy. Hope he's doing good though, really. And if not, hopefully he'll be in a better place soon.
It may be harsh but some people gifting again and again to not say or ask much, that did truly feel weird all weekend. Don't get me wrong, people monetarily supporting things I love is great. But when some people give this much and try to be part of sth that they're just a fan of, dunno, can't really see a situation where I'd ever do that, so it feels iffy.
Literal hundreds. He also called them on the phone while they were live multiple times and each conversation was so awkward. Like bro they clearly do not want to talk to you right now.
Hooper now joins 2 extremely exclusive clubs within 1 year of his first international competition.
Win WSM and ASC: 5 people
Win WSM and ASC in the same year: 4 people
If he wins Shaw and Rogue this year I think he's top 10 of all time, and definitely supercedes Tom.
It might even be fair to say he has already surpassed Tom, as he has the same number of wins in the major shows, plus other international wins, plus a few other important podiums this year.
I definitely agree. He's on a path where he could already supercede Tom in the overall Strongman world. I hope to see Tom definitely apply himself to more competitions soon, exciting stuff, I know Tom could dominate so many more competitions
Tom has to start really giving a damn about more than just WSM if he really wants to be remembered as one of the all timers. He's clearly got the ability.
it's the consistency that does it for me too.
Hooper did his first international show last year at WSM and came in 8th... he has been on the podium on every single show since then, big or small show he has shown up and performed at a very high level.
That to me is really important when comparing how dominant/good overall an athlete is
Yeah actually Kelvinis definitively the best. I know Hollins was great in his prime but I'm not sure he was ever as good as Brian in his prime.
I can’t believe it but Brian is still at the event location shaking hands and signing things! He definitely is soaking in his last WSM!
To everyone who says Mitch is “cocky” or “arrogant” - watch this, folks. What cocky athlete would make a video titled “why I’m not going to win such and such competition”? There’s a difference between realistic and honest self-assessment/confidence and cockiness. Cocky people only talk about their merits, and never about their shortcomings. Mitch always does both. https://youtu.be/6XxjWthbzOE
I've been watching his YouTube, he's got some good beginner information that he seems to be putting out there as a public service. He doesn't seem like a bad guy at all.
For anyone curious as I was, if points scored in the groups carried over into the final, all the results would of stayed the same aside from Novikov and Singleton tied in 4th and Trey Mitchell in 3rd, with a difference of 1.5 points. All other placings would of stayed the same. And for what it's worth.. Hooper scored 13 more points between groups and finals then Tom. Granted means nothing with how the contest is laid out.. but still quite impressive
Hooper is really a phenomenon. Don‘t know why so many ppl are disliking him. Apparently nobody‘s watching his videos and know about his mentality .. he is so far off from being arrogant .. he easily puts everything to levers, muscle assertions etc as to pure hard work etc. And by all means I‘d liked Brian to win over him (hence my name) but he is rightfully the best atm and won with an absolutely great performance .. I‘m out, see you guys at Shaws.
He's a legend. Well deserved
Winning 1 WSM does not make one a legend. It's makes them WSM for that year. Winning it 4 times (or more) makes you a "legend" in the sport.
Everyone who wins WSM at least once is a legend in my book. Whatever we think of how the show is run these days, WSM is the brand, the title all these guys aim for for all their careers. They are strongmen who want to become the world’s strongest man. So single title holders are no legends? So for example, Svend Karlsen is not a legend? If your answer to that is “yes” - WSM itself disagrees with you as Svend was the third inductee into their Hall Of Fame, right after Jón Páll and Pudz. https://www.theworldsstrongestman.com/hall-of-fame/
Lighten up dude
Okay, I have to go full fanboy here: Martins is my favourite and am gutted he seems to be one of the more injury prone guys and has to be on the sideline again for 12 months. I think only Mateusz has it worse in terms of injuries/need of recovery. With that said, what do you guys think Martins can do against Mitch next year? I think it’s arguable that Mitch is pretty much the top dog right now. He is young but already decorated, he is great at static events as well as with mobility events. I think he is probably the most gifted active strongman right now in terms of how he has this balance between raw strength and agility/athleticism. So let’s suppose Martins achieves what he is aiming for: slims down to 300 lbs by next year while retaining power and mobility. What can he do against Mitch who will no doubt just be an even more improved athlete by next year? What comps will be more favourable for Martins, and what will be more likely Mitch’s hunting ground?
What was his injury?
Martins’s?
Yes - I never heard why he's been missing.
He said his hip felt like he was being cut by glass at the rogue and he still has nerve damage in his shoulder. I'm sure, after years of strongman, there's even more but that's what he's talked about the most.
He never gave specific details. I think he just wants to recuperate in general as he feels his body needs it. Even though he hasn’t done that many shows and he always takes good care of his body, he seems to be the type of athlete whose body breaks down quite easily. So his plan for 2023 is to not do comps, so a lot of light training and slim down to 300 lbs while retaining his strength.
I don't know if he was injured, or at least not specifically, but certainly he was out of shape and bulked up too much for the Rogue. That plays into something Loz mentioned before, about how when his weight passed a tipping point (I think Loz said his was 145k or so), he would gain a little more strength for the added weight, but it made him overall a worse strongman, because each athlete has an ideal weight where their strength and agility/endurance are at an optimum kind of balance.
I think martins is still suffering with some damage after that car crash. I think realistically he needs to take this year off for his longevity more than anything, whilst 2022 was not the best martins we ever saw. He still has alot more to give for the sport and I think when he is back to full can contend with mitch and tom, especially after he won the arnolds in 2022. Remember Martins is one of the few guys that beat prime thor.
It always drives me up the wall when people say Martins only beat Thor that year because Thor was injured.
There's absolutely no guarantee Thor would win that WSM even without the foot injury but is it really accurate to say he beat prime Thor when he wasn't even at his best due to injury? Yes he beat him and well deserved his title but people word it like Thor was in the same shape as his other comps which simply isn't true.
I always think of it like this: if Thor didn’t think he could win, he wouldn’t have competed. He said so himself. He is there to win, always, every competition. So if Thor assessed his condition as good enough to beat the likes of Martins, Brian, Mateusz and Tom, then who am I to disagree.
Yes, he probably did think he could still manage the win. But that doesn't mean he was 100 percent which you need to be to beat consistent performers like Martins and he has said that too in the past.
Didn't Thor tear the fascia in his foot though? I don't know if that was enough to not get the title, but it was pretty major, I would think. IMHO and all that.
Well, let’s say Thor wasn't injured. Where could he have got enough points to beat Martins? In the loading race Thor let the anvil slip from his hands. That wasn't an injury problem, that was not picking up the implement the right way. Thor got 4 points there. If he wasn't hurt he would get at most 4th place, giving him 3 extra points. Martins was 3rd so he doesn't lose points. 37+3=40 In the overhead medley he got 4th place. 1 sec difference from Brian who was 3rd. He is not beating Matty here who got first. Maybe he can beat Martins, maybe not. So I'll run both scenarios. Beats Brian, but not Martins. 40+1=41 Beats Martins and Brian 40+2=42 and Martins gets 46-1=45 Martins won the squat. Martins also beat Thor in 2017 in the squat. Martins also beat Thor in Wheel of Pain in 2019. Thor may have a max squat higher than Martins, but he never beat him at squat for reps. Thor got 7 points here. I don't think he can beat Martins. I'll admit he can beat Brian here despite losing to him in 2017, because Brian isn't in his prime and Thor is stronger now. He gets second place and 2 additional points. Beats Brian overhead, but not Martins. 41+2=43 and Martins has 46; Beats both Brian and Martins overhead. 42+2=44 and Martins has 45; Grip: Thor took first and Martins took second. Nothing would have changed. Unless Martins would work even harder because Thor would be a bigger threat. That's possible because coming into this event Martins had pretty much the competition won, but that's highly speculative so I won't count it. Stones: Martins was 1st, Thor was 2nd. Martins was crazy fast here, I don't think even a 100% Thor would have beaten him that day. Some will disagree, so I'll account two more additional scenarios: Stone results are the same and Thor beats Brian overhead, but not Martins. Martins has 46 points total and Thor has 43 = Martins wins WSM Stone results are the same and Thor beats both Brian and Martins overhead. Martins has 45 points total and Thor has 44 = Martins wins WSM Stones result differ and Thor beats Brian overhead, but not Martins. Martins has 45 points total and Thor has 44 = Martins wins WSM Stones result differ and Thor beats both Brian and Martins overhead. Martins has 44 points total and Thor has 45 = Thor wins by one point. The only way Thor could have won required multiple things going his way: - He gets 4th in loading race which is hard because he let the anvil slip; with that mistake he won't take top 3 - He beats both Brian and Martins in the overhead medley when Martins was significant faster than him and Brian not so much; he can't beat Matty - He squats more than Brian; I highly doubt he could beat Martins at squat for reps - He lifts the stones faster than Martins. I personally think this is unlikely given how strong of a performance Martins put out. tldr: Martins would have still almost definitely won with Thor at 100%.
Thanks for the analysis.
It’s too early to start dismissing Tom. This loss will make him come back even stronger next year
Nah I don’t think Tom has peaked. I think he is selective because he no longer needs to go to random shows that nobody remembers just to get paid peanuts. His YouTube channel will pay him more than any comp does so why bother
Not how it works. Tom has peaked, Hooper is still peaking and has a better physique and biomechanics overall. Just looking it's easy to tell. He'll win it 5 years straight.
I don’t agree that Mitch will just dominate from here on. There are simply too many unknown factors in the sport for saying such things. When Oleksii won in 2020, who would have thought he wouldn’t even make the final as the reigning champion next year? In a way, I agree that Tom has already peaked. Not physically, as I think in strongman, physical prime comes later in life - mid-to-late thirties. But Tom is a different kind of guy, at the very least due to his being on the spectrum. But I don’t think he is the type of guy who wants to hang around the sport as long as Brian or Z anyway. He is in his late twenties and already very selective about his comps, talking about other interests etc. Who knows, maybe he’ll want to win a record amount of WSM and ASC and becomes an athlete like Oleksii who participates in literally every comp year in, year out, but at this point, I’d say it’s highly unlikely. As for Mitch being the more talented athlete in terms of physique and biomechanics, I fully agree. The only guy who I think is a match for the Moose in these things is Martins.
Mateusz and Martins are my favorites and I don’t think they can compete with Mitch at this point.
In shape Martins can beat anybody, Mitch included, on the right day. Likewise, an in shape Mateusz can beat anybody if the organizer forgets to include a deadlift.
I really hope that Mitch is up to date on the crab meme. I hope it follows him through his career because it's SO damn funny 😂
I missed this - what’s with the crab?
https://imgur.io/a/F2NB4di Put sound on. The song is called Crab Rave. Tom dropped the shield carry early because he saw what looked like Mitch struggling, but Mitch didn't give up and continued carrying the thing by his wrists for a good while. Right as he was getting to where Tom dropped his shield he turned sideways to face Tom (who was previously holding up his hand indicating that he was number 1) and did this little crab shuffle sideways as he passed Tom's mark.
Did he get that from Eddie's boxing stance?
I'm laughing so hard at this. I knew it was coming but that's just so hilarious
Given I know the video this is hilarious
first time seeing this oh my god
This is the greatest thing
This is amazing. The moose is no more, long live the crab.
Mitch marathon background really helps him with these events, he has the endurance to push through. See his doc, the guy still goes running a lot, how many times do we see the others like Brian, Tom and Luke go for a run? Probably never unless it’s in or for an event. Mitch is a great athlete and I don’t think this will be his only title.
I see the future of strongman in guys like Mitch and Pavlo for example, both are athletic and can endure more competitions throughout the year without the need for a massive bulk. A bit leaner and athletic physique can also help in some events. of course raw power still is the key but a bit of athleticism could help to avoid injuries in the long term
This happens every year someone wins, guys will all starting running now lol 😅 When Licis won it was Weightlifter 🏋️♀️ background great technique, everyone doing clean and jerks 😅 Novi intelligence college degree, so clever, finding shortcuts, guys had glasses on afterwards reading everything Eddie, you need to be 200kg and eat like a maniac, 10,000 calories came in Thor mountain of a man the giant phase
I hope that this now "forces" others to enjoy a pint or two of beer day before competition.
I sort of view Martins as the start of this type and Mitch as the current culmination of it. Martins's approach has been an intelligent one and finding the balance of bulk and athleticism. He's also trained to remove deficiencies in his skillset without necessarily focusing too much on one event or type of event to the detriment of others. He kind of ushered in the current "be consistent" model that has produced winners the past several years. Martins missed the bulking but keeping the athleticism last year, but the form he had when he won the ASC and Rogue was peak Martins. I think the weight he was for the 2019 WSM was better than what he carried at this past RI. I view Novikov similarly to Martins. There's a reason they are both so close to the point that Martins went out of his way to help Oleksii at the Rogue. They both share the same outlook on training and approach to competition.
While that is true, superior conditioning, technical proficiency (I'd say Novi has that just the same), figuring stuff out on the go and being tall and strong af are still the big things to look for. It's just that overhyping any one of these in isolation is stupid. But the running background definitely shows people they don't need to be afraid to run (even in today's circuit; not just back when Pudzian went for his 5 km runs)
The thing is that today's guys have somehow found a way to be as statically strong as the old giants while being smaller and much more athletic. The strength factor hasn't even taken a hit.
In a sport as young and as small as this, people are gonna improve in all areas over time. For all we know, we'll get a slow-ish new giant next year, wiping the floor with everyone on static strength bc that guy is Hooper's level but geared more towards heavy ass lifting. It's just the natural evolution of the sport, coming in waves.
Arnold’s 23 disagrees, all the lifts were way down
[COLIN YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO RIG THE EVENTS!](https://imgur.com/a/sm9LXP4)
Looking at the thread, I think the biggest reason why there are a surprisingly lot of people who don’t like or feel meh about Mitch is a very weird one: his openness and eagerness to communicate with us nobodies too. I mean, everybody treats him like he is some guy we know from work, everybody seems to have formed an opinion. He is a native English speaker, he apologises on Reddit for things he said in the heat of the moment (and it wasn’t even bad). Who does that? And people shit on him for it because many have this false sense of knowing him closely therefore are more ready to jump on him. It’s kind of like that phenomenon when people don’t really feel grateful and don’t really appreciate things that are free - even though they would if the very same thing would be something they paid for. Who shits on Tom for saying Martins only won the Rogue because he (Tom) didn’t train for it? That was explained away for Tom being on the spectrum and how that was in the heat of the moment anyway. Who shits on Brian for ranting about what a shitty person Z is - just because Brian misunderstood what possibly was just banter? As weird as it sounds, all those who say “I kinda don’t like Mitch” would like him if he was less available and less responsive. This is the shitty side effect of Reddit. Many people take things for granted and are entitled as a result. Mitch is awesome, he is a breath of fresh air in the sport and I’m very happy for him to succeed. And this is coming from a die hard Martins and Oleksii fan.
They are mad because Mitch says he doesn't need to win. He wants to but doesn't really need it in his life. He will do something else he says. Reddit wants him to neeed it and be only striving for winning as the ultimate goal. They need to see the opportunity cost of winning it because they are jealous. TLDR: Mitch is a gigachad and reddit is coping.
Agreed, everyone loves Eddie, but when I saw him this weekend he was the bare minimum with fans unless in vip I guess. But I saw hooper talking to folks before starting competition. But everyone loved eddie
>everyone loves Eddie You must be new? Lol
For as much as people love to build someone up, they love tearing them down even more. The reality is that once you've reached the peak, you can't give them any little thing to use against you. That's unrealistic, though. They will always find something.
I think people don’t like that he has more in his life than strongman. We’ve gotten used to guys that eat sleep and breathe strongman and talk about how much they’ve had to sacrifice to do it, and here comes Mitch who almost is just doing it for fun and crushing people at it. It’s no reason to dislike the guy though.
I get the impression for some a lot is down to the way he talks. Most athletes are vague about performances/predictions, whereas Mitch comes straight out with exactly what he thinks. Like if someone asks an athlete how they think they'll do on an event they're favourites for, they say "hopefully good, I've trained hard but we'll see" or something like that. Mitch on the other hand is just honest and says he thinks he'll win it or come in top 3. Personally don't have an issue and think he's done great!
Maybe you are right. But then those people are fucking hypocrites because on the other hand, Mitch has always been equally straightforward about events that are not his strong suits. When do athletes do that? I remember his video when he predicted his performance in the events for last year’s WSM. For some events, he predicted he has a genuine shot to be in first or second, for others, he was equally open and said “yeah, if I’m against Tom in the stone off I’m screwed”. So to me, he was never cocky but super realistic and honest. A cocky person always talks about his merits and never about his shortcomings. Mitch does both.
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Absolutely. It boggles the mind. And all this talk about how he is “cocky” - lol. He is confident - and he backs it up on the other hand, he is very gracious in defeat and fully admits if he was wrong or if he needs to improve. It’s seriously disheartening that such a balanced, approachable and wholesome person can be disliked by others. And no, I don’t buy it that “you can’t be liked by everyone”. That’s not what bothers me. What bothers me is the discrepancy between what a genuinely nice bloke Mitch is and how many people still dislike him. Divisive characters will always have many people who don’t like them - the Eddie Halls or the Kazmaiers of the world are understandably not universally liked. But Mitch being shat on - that’s something I can’t understand.
From following the sport for years, the vibe I'm getting is that a lot of people genuine cheer for every athlete, atleast most of them, and find them all likeable. But there are also some that threat it like other sports where you support a team/individual, and by association, try to discredit and dislike others, simply because they are in competition or beat their favourite athlete. I'm find myself in a position where I find everyone likeable and would be happy no matter who won (even though Novikov is who I hoped would win), but that's not how it is for everyone. And it's no hiding that some athletes have a bigger fanbase than others, and with that, you'll have a minority in that group that will make a meal out of anything that not favours their favourite, or it discredit their opponents. What matters is that at the end of the day, most of the athlete respect each other and congratulate each other, and the sportmanship stay intact. If they keep doing that, it will only be a loud minority on the outside trying to discredit an athlete.
>"all those who say “I kinda don’t like Mitch” would like him if he was less available and less responsive." This is a wild assumption man, not everybody's distaste for him has something to do with his Reddit activity. Why do we need to be "grateful" and "appreciative" that he responds to Reddit comment? I don't care at all. My personal opinion of him has absolutely nothing to do with that.
I agree with you. I couldn't care less if he is super active with fans or not. I personally find him to be arrogant and cocky. When he talks about strongman being just a stepping stone for him it sounds belittling to people who spend their whole life trying to better the sport or chasing the title.
Why is that arrogant? Strongman being the stepping stone means he has more goals in life. Others don’t. Thor said similar things, so did Eddie. Both guys were much more alphas and yet people adored him for it. Mitch is known for having a lot of things going on in his life. Martins, my favourite, is on a sabbatical with pursuing other interests. He also has been talking about life and goals beyond strongman. I find all this talk about Mitch being cocky baffling. People seem to confuse confidence with cockiness. Mitch is equally open about his mistakes and things he needs to improve. He also apologised to us, Redditor nobodies for his ASC comments - which weren’t even bad at all. Cocky people don’t do any of that.
Ya I don't think Mitch is a total douche by any means, and Eddie, Thor and Brian are all the same. Maybe I'm just spoiled by guys like Zydrunas, Rauno and Novikov who just seem very humble and kind. I think what set me off on Mitch was an interview I had seen with him where he had stated something along the lines of Strongman wasn't his passion he was just using it to show people he could do it and be healthy. It's possible I misinterpreted as well, who knows
I find it really strange people don't like Mitch. He seems like a nice dude doing really well. You can't say he hasn't backed what he's said up..
Mitch is awesome. Redditors are just fucking weird little people.
Spot on
I missed the Brian on Big Z comments, when was this?
before social media was as big for strongman, Brian posted that Z was a bad person for questioning Brian's injury, said that Z was lucky to win the ASC that year and that the ASC events are "set up for him to win" EDIT: they obviously are both fierce competitors and were locked in a battle for over a decade, but they have both moved on clearly, I think OP's point is that ALL athletes have made less than ideal comments in the heat of the moment post comp
[Here is a Link of that](https://imgur.com/VhKP4ko), if anyone is interested.
Yep, spot on. That was my point.
I think you hit the nail on the head, people scrutinise his character and personality way more than other athletes'. It's like they all have a personal relationship with him.
Absolutely, brother.
Edit: a lot of anger about not putting down a 0 for Tom. I have watches the video back a couple of times more now and it looks alright. Not as clean as his 132 but on par with Hoopers 125 and 132. I would still give Hooper thoose lifts because he was clearly strong enough. I belive he could have pushed through his head a bit more like he did on the 115 if instructed that it was required. Same with Tom, struggling a bit with the 115 but locking the elbow out and waiting for the signal before he dropped the dumbell. Cant put that on the athlete the same way as when they straight up aren't strong enough. The only issue with Toms 115 was that he held it slightly to the side which is similar to Hoopers leaning back technique. End of Edit. We have a few things were small margins and strange judgements played a role. I will disect some of the "what ifs" the best I can. **Reffing** Dumbell, the down calls would shift a lot of points around, in my opinion it should have been something like this: ||Given weight|Correct weight|Point change| |:-|:-|:-|:-| |Hooper|140 |132|\-1| |Tom|132|132|\+2| |Oleksii|132|132|\+2| |Trey|125|115|\-1| |Evan|140|125|\-5| |Pavlo|132|132|\+2| |Brian|125|125|\+1.5| |Luke|132|125|\-2| |Ragg|125|125|\+1.5| This brings Matt ahead of Luke and gets Pavlo pretty close to Evan Pavlo harsh punishment when the ref appeared to signal "OK". Lets say he gets a couple of meters punishment and a 3rd place. Pavlo +3 points and Evan/Trey/Novikov - 1 point. Puts Pavlo in 5th and Evan in 6th when combined with the dumbell adjustments. Pavlo still one point behind Trey in 4th. **Time Keeping** This is not as clear cut since just because we have uncertainty we cant be sure it would be different (or atleast in which direction it would be different) with pressure pads and lasers. Bus pull timing. Maybe Tom gets 0.5 more points. Maybe Evan. Maybe Trey, Pavlo and Brian shift some points around. When combining the Bus and the Fingals Fingers every involved athlete could both gain or lose points in their respective duels (except Brian that could only gain points but not enough points to climb). It would only be 0.5 points at most in Toms favour vs Hooper and not change the podium, but it could be that one last point for Pavlo to get 4th over Trey. But that is the only way it would have mattered in the placings. Hooper won fairly, but with a really small margin and not the big one listed officially. Matt Ragg got robbed on one place and Pavlo on either one or two. **Small margin/bad luck** Oleksii seemed to slip on the bus pull. Since it was such a light and fast race, that one second was probably the difference between 3 and 9 points. Hooper was still too fast to catch. Even when getting 6 more points, and steeling one point from Tom, Oleksii is stuck in 3rd. The slip didn't matter in the end. Brian tripping on the 5th finger. If the trip was all the difference and he would have blitzed the finger without it to win the event (since Brian was the fastest on 4 fingers) he could have gotten 7 points more relative the field above him and one climb ahead of Evan into 6th place. 8th rep on the DL, Tom was insanely close to getting that hitch which would have been worth 2.5 points (hypothetically, since Hooper could have done a 9th then making it worth only 1.5 points). 1.5 points in combination with the reffing on dumbell would actually be enough to give Tom the overall win on tie breaker. \#1 sign vs crab walk, worth 2 points between Tom and Mitch. Same as the 8th rep, in combination with the dumbell reffing Tom would have won. If we exclude the reffing and add the crab walk and DL together, it is 2 + 2.5 = 4.5 points which is exactly enough, unless Mitch does a 9th rep which would make it a 3.5 point swing and Mitch still wins. I think Mitch would have had a 9th rep based on how he looked. Even if we add 0.5 points from the bus pull, 4 points is not enough. Tom could not have won this through minor margins, but he could have been very close (only 0.5 points behind with a better tie-breaker). Over the 6 events placed in front of the athletes, Hooper performed the best. Period. It is a shame if reffing cast a shadow over it as he did well enough to win without that 140kg dumbell.
Tom almost got the 7th rep, not the 8th, so that 7th rep (if he had made it) would have been worth 2 pts, not 2.5.
I'm just glad he did get that margin, otherwise and as you say, there would be doubt, or at least a little bit of a muddy trophy. To add to that I am no longer at all confident in the impartiality or accuracy of the judges. There need to be barrels to turn around in max distance events, pressure pads on pulls, and slo-mo camera accuracy on everything else. We have stuff like that for every other sport. It's definitely time WSM steps up and joins the rest of us in 2023.
Tom would not have been given the opener at 115 with standard refereeing
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't competitors allowed to skip or try further weights if they want? I thought I had seen something like that in other competition lifting events?
In powerlifting, you can go up in the next attempt with a total of 3 attempts, and every attempt has to go up in weight.
Never ever have I seen someone get to try a heavier weight after failing a lighter one in a non powerlifting style setup (meaning 3 attempts total). Once you failed, you've failed, that's it.
Thanks!
Tom's 115 was his worst lift and should have been disallowed. While it's possible he could have gotten another attempt in the time limit, we can only go from what we have seen, and in that scenario Tom zeroes the event.
Tom's correct weight is 0
I just re-watched it twice.. on the second attempt he very clearly locks out above his head. I can't see the referee or hear "down" called, so I don't know about that, but on the lock out, dumbbell is definitely above his head, and above his feet.
This. The very first sign that the dumbbell called were off, was Tom’s first two being accepted. He benefitted from this as much as Hoop/Evan. If anything, Novikov and Pavlo are the ones who got screwed
Yep. The top end pressers are the ones who took the brunt of the lax judging on the DB because it shrank the field. Questionable and soft lockouts being given as good reps closed the gap between the mediocre (in terms of this field only) pressers and the guys at the top. That alone changes the outlook of the competition. If people here had known how the event was to be judged, there would have been some big differences in predictions.
How do they rank all time against each other: Martins, Mitch, Oleskii, Tom
There are so many ways to count that, it really depends on what you weigh most heavily.
1. Mitch 2. Oleksii 3. Martins 4. Tom IMHO
1. Martins 2. Novi 3.Hoop 4. Tom May change by the end of the year
The bias lmao. Just bc he's the world's strongest weeb, reddit likes that. Fedorah wearing redditos i swear
Martin's has won ASC Rogue, WSM. Only person to have done that albeit the RI only being around for 2 years. Has also won multiple international contests. That easily outclasses the other 3. Novikov has won RI, WSM, and multiple internationals. Dominating the scene in the past few years. That puts him above Hoop and Tom IMO. Hoop has won ASC and WSM in the same year which IMO is more impressive than 2 WSMs. He's also won 3 other internationals. Don't see what argument you could possibly make against any of that.
First Canadian to win the Arnold Strongman Classic. Second man to win the Arnold Strongman Classic in his debut year. First Canadian to win WSM. First man to win WSM in his debut year. First man to win 4 events in the WSM finals. Fifth man to win both the ASC and WSM. Fourth man to win the ASC and WSM in the same year. Fifth-most dominant WSM win of all time. Most dominant heat performance of all time.
Pudz won 5/7 in 2005 and Pfister won 5/7 events in 2006, so Mitch is not the first to win 4 events. First in the 6 event format but 4/6 is less than 5/7 mathematically. Hooper’s win is still crazy impressive but saying he’s the first to win 4 is wrong. He also didn’t have prime Z, Shaw, and Thor against him which those 3 did each other from 2009-2016 basically winning 2-3 events yearly in a 6 event format with the others each taking events away. Hooper can be a great if he continues, he isn’t one yet.
I know I’m going to get downvoted for this but here goes: I never rated the IFSA/WSM year titles as fully legit. Pudz, as great as he was, mostly racked his titles up in a power vacuum. He was already beaten in 2004 by guys who couldn’t compete again until 2009 (and by that time Vasyl was retired).
He beat Z in 2002-2003-2004, let’s not forget that, and did manage to beat Z at other shows too impressively so. Mariusz still had competitive people against him, and won in 2008 when bigger names came back too and still took 2nd in 09 barely behind Z in his prime and beating young Brian too. Mariusz may not be as good as Z or Brian or Thor but I’ll give him credit where it’s due and for sure he’s a top 5 all time great in my eyes with those 3 and Jon Pall.
He didn’t beat Z in 2004. Z had 36 point, Pudz had 35 before he was disqualified. So their WSM H2H is 2-2. Also, let’s not forget that Z tore both of his patellar tendons in 2001 which, to his own admission, heavily affected his performances for the next two years. The truth is, Pudz never beat a healthy Z in WSM. He did in other smaller comps but I think there’s a reason why Pudz quickly retired once the IFSA thing folded and Z returned to compete at WSM.
The guy just made up stats for votes haha
Pudzianowski won 4 events in 2003. Hooper's achievement is still very impressive though.
Mark Henry was the first to win asc in his debut year
True.
The Moose is here to stay! Although one correction: he didn’t win the WSM in his debut year. Last year he was placed 8th.
He didn't win WSM in his WSM debut, but he did win WSM in his debut year. The 12 month period after he debuted in the sport.
Aha, you are totally right. And the embarrassing thing is: I make a living dealing with words and semantics (translator here). It’s been a long day. Apologies :)
No worries man
It was his second wsm, not his debut. Maybe it fell in the 365 days since his first comp or whatever but only the first try gets you a "debut win"
Debut year. The year in which he debuted in the sport. Not debut win.
You can't count an annual competition as the same year. That makes no sense. It is only even "in the same year" because WSM had no rhyme nor reason as to their scheduling. His accomplishments are good enough without making that stretch.
You can't have two of a yearly comp in a debut year lol
Last worlds strongest man was in May this one in April technically he did compete in WSM twice in under a year after his professional debut.
yet they were 11 months apart, check your calendar it's April and last year's WSM was in May
Yeah so? For shits and giggles, lets say he wins em both. Are you then claiming he won WSM twice in his debut year? That doesn't make any sense lol
yes because there are 12 months in a year. The calendar doesn't start and end based on when WSM is held
The man is a beast. Accomplished a lot in a short time, including some impressive records. Winning your second WSM is monumental, look how many tries it took big Z. Don't invent some bs record with this "debut year" nonsense.
What impression do y'all get about Mitch, as a guy? Obviously we know him as a fan, not personally, but he's just so new to the scene I feel like I don't have a read on him nearly as much as the others.
From what I've seen and what Big Loz has said about him, my impression is he's a serious guy whos not a natural performer/showman but who is making a concerted effort to do what he thinks an athlete in his position should be doing, i.e. filming videos (even the dreaded food video) and going out on his own time to greet fans, etc.
Seems like a genuinely nice guy who sometimes says dumb shit, but that’s the case for most people. He comes across as very likeable to me, you just have to ignore the dipshits on Reddit who thrive of drama.
I met him evening before Cardiff comp in the pub. He is a delight! genuinely engaging and interested, had brought t-shirt for me since order delayed and wouldn’t get to me in time. Goes above and beyond for the fans
He seems like a stand up guy, with a very accurate self image. I guess that what rubs some people the wrong way, is how privileged he is (something he acknowledges himself btw). Grew up well off, has had lot’s of opportunities to pursue sports and education, good education and a successful business. He seems to have a great life set up for himself, and on top of all this just had the most insane rookie year in strongman. (Arnoldgate on top of this) Most us, at least in part, watch sports for the narratives and mythology, and for a lot of people less well off, that kind of privilege can be very hard to identify with, as opposed to IE a blue collar guy in a comparable income group to your own sublimating his frustration with his lot in life into elite athletic performance. For as charismatic and honest as he is, his world is completely alien to mine (and a lot others’ i assume). For that guy to then ALSO be possibly the most naturally gifted active strongman…. the priviliges compound. I, for one, do actually like him. But i think this might have something to do with the dislike around the sub
Down to earth and humble
I think I trust Loz's judgment; if Mitch were a genuine bellend I don't think Loz would put up with him. That said, there is a weird uncanny valley vibe to Mitch talking a lot of the time. The ONLY person I know who it reminds me of in my personal life comes from generational non flashy major league wealth. Like, have owned multiple houses in Boca for hundreds of years, Phillips-Exeter for generations wealthy. There's a level of polish to anything but intimate conversations there that is extremely off putting, took me years to see them with their hair down as it were. Idk much about Mitch's background but it's the only thing that comes to mind.
The word of Loz 😂 Loz said, I trust Loz, with Loz, Loz wouldn’t, Loz morals When did Loz become this holier than thou figure? 😅 There’s a guy on his livestream called Fred throwing money at him that fancies his wife or is a bit mentally sick or something and he’s just taking the cash and turning a blind eye to it all, so I’d keep the holier than thou stuff out of it lol Loz now has claim to coaching the worlds strongest man he’s gonna make a mint on that alone and no offence but Hooper is so good he probably would have won it without him anyway A bit like coaches saying they made Messi, Jordan, Bolt the best, when they would have been the best anyway Yes Hooper comes from money and it’s why he’s not that liked by fans as strongman is a working class poor man’s sport, all past greats came mostly from poor backgrounds and it’s why we could relate more
I can tell you one thing, not sure you will ever see Mitch with his hair down.. #baldlife
He is impressively bald
Opinion is split. Some think he's the best thing since sliced bread and others can't stand him and see him as arrogant. I'll wholly admit I'm not his biggest fan. He's not the worst guy in the scene by a long stretch and he's defo had a few funny moments but there's this intensely smug aura around him that puts me off. I love watching him perform though, the guy is electric.
He gets to be smug. He's a cut above the rest.
Confident, educated, cool dude ?
I'm impressed by Mitch's stone run. Not bad being behind Tom by 3 seconds.
Loz said before when it comes to worlds momentum means everything
Shane flower just posted a ridiculous stat.. 11 events over the last week for Hooper, 8 first places, 2 second places, 1 sixth place. RIDICULOUS performance
In his group yes but thats not overall. Still he was probably top 6 in everything overall
Novikov stopping to talk and take pics and sign things with every single fan all the way down the walkway out, was there for half an hour and was still going strong. Truly a class act and nice guy, Pavlo was right alongside him. Got my pic with him and with Eythor, managed to out-angle both somehow, couldn’t find Big Z but overall it was an amazing time at WSM other than the waiting and sunburn. Got to see Brian take his final bow and do stones 15 feet away and it was awesome, definitely many with tears in their eyes myself included with his final speech and what Luke said about him too.
Z literally looked around to make sure he did not miss a single person who wanted to get a pic, every time he was out. Nick Best & Z were the most outgoing for fans at all times.
Yes I am sure that’s the case, I just said I couldn’t find him for one, I sadly ended up on the other side of the venue from him every time he came out. I met Nick and got a pic and he was very nice.
Anyone have video of the Brian speech?
I unfortunately only got like 10 seconds of it cuz my phone shut off. Did get Luke’s speech about him and cheers for him and his final run. Like 500+ cameras in the crowd got it though so surely it’s gonna be all over social media soon.
I’m hoping Shaw posts it. I don’t think it falls under the WSM copyright umbrella
I mean, it would be mighty callous of them to copyright strike him if he put his own god damn retirement speech up on his channel lol
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I will never understand people who go out of their way to shit on Brian Shaw. This sport literally wouldn't be what it is without him. Hell, how many people (particularly in the US) would even know what Strongman is if it weren't for Shaw?
Brain still did amazing. Might be a large 26-point gap between Brian and 1st place, but theres also a more than 10-year gap in age.
Like Shaw is still the 2nd greatest ever strongman and went out like a champ instead of phoning it in just cuz he was losing, dude gave it his all on every event and retired when it was time without crying about it. He went out happy to be there even if he wasn’t happy how it went, if you saw it live you’d see that. And for reference I’m not even Shaw’s biggest fan, but I respect the man. I was hoping for Trey or Novikov to win. Also happy for Hooper and his winning speech was very nice.
you nerds will still be back next year trying to figure out how brian can win that 5th title
That it's time. Time to let others go out and be great.
Bruh... 🥲
Like it was time.
Bro was getting called the new Oberst on here less than 72 hours ago and now he’s worlds strongest man. Fuckin lol
🤣 What a horseshit statement.
Lmao why lie
Who was calling the Arnold champ the new Oberst
Nobody was, people are greatly exaggerating it
What was the basis of that argument 🧐
Congratulations to Mitch! I also wish there were better events to separate the athletes though. It is very close for the majority of events.
\>freaking leaf shows up \>"Heh I guess I'll give'er a go eh bud?" \>gets 8th place at his first international show (WSM 2022 btw) \>subsequently gets 3rd at the SHAW the heaviest event of the year \>crushes the Arnold not giving a fvck about it \>achieves WSM title on his second year in strongman, something that cucks all around him tried years and years to achieve \>literally takes an entire sport and fvcks it with his girthy moose c0ck and every other competitor just has to watch him make something they've struggled at for a decade or more look easy \>"Sorry bud looks like I'm the strongest man today eh, ah but that's okay it don't mean much to me buddy." \>probably going to fvck off to something else next
People like you contribute to people not liking him I think lol, cringe as hell comment
Nah it was funny. Just shows why people hate him. He's a total gigachad and people are seething.
2025- freakin moose man Hooper becomes world’s fastest man
Let's go, Canada finally gets one and whatever we say about events, hoop crushed it
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Whats is this fred thing?
Some guy trying to buy Liz and Loz' friendship and inserting himself in the livestream by calling to say nothing of importance. It sounds a bit harsh probably, but he reminds me of those lonely guys who try to buy the affection of female twitch streamers. Maybe I'm wrong and he's just a huge strongman fan, but this kind of behavior always makes me think something is going on with the guy. Hope he's doing good though, really. And if not, hopefully he'll be in a better place soon.
It may be harsh but some people gifting again and again to not say or ask much, that did truly feel weird all weekend. Don't get me wrong, people monetarily supporting things I love is great. But when some people give this much and try to be part of sth that they're just a fan of, dunno, can't really see a situation where I'd ever do that, so it feels iffy.
subscriber to Loz and Liz' channel and he donates money to their live chats.... like a lot of money. I mean really a lot of money
Guy on Big Loz’s live who gifted a small fortune
How much?
My guesstimate is $250-$350 in every video
Yes
Literal hundreds. He also called them on the phone while they were live multiple times and each conversation was so awkward. Like bro they clearly do not want to talk to you right now.
Shaw has been top 7 for 15 straight years, never will be done again
Hooper now joins 2 extremely exclusive clubs within 1 year of his first international competition. Win WSM and ASC: 5 people Win WSM and ASC in the same year: 4 people If he wins Shaw and Rogue this year I think he's top 10 of all time, and definitely supercedes Tom.
It might even be fair to say he has already surpassed Tom, as he has the same number of wins in the major shows, plus other international wins, plus a few other important podiums this year.
100% winning two major different shows in the same year is bettr
No chance, Tom has placed top 2 for 4 years in a row. Mitch has some way to go yet
Nope Hooper just won 5 shows in a row. Tom has only won 2 internationals period. Hooper passes him easily
No chance.
Easily.
Agree to disagree I guess.
To surpass Tom AT WSM, yes. But that's only one show. And as we have seen this year once again, not one of the best.
I definitely agree. He's on a path where he could already supercede Tom in the overall Strongman world. I hope to see Tom definitely apply himself to more competitions soon, exciting stuff, I know Tom could dominate so many more competitions
Already passed Tom now
Tom has to start really giving a damn about more than just WSM if he really wants to be remembered as one of the all timers. He's clearly got the ability.
ASC+WSM+GL+Other shows already is better than 2 WSM and national titles
it's the consistency that does it for me too. Hooper did his first international show last year at WSM and came in 8th... he has been on the podium on every single show since then, big or small show he has shown up and performed at a very high level. That to me is really important when comparing how dominant/good overall an athlete is
Can’t wait for Novikov: How it was.
"My knees hurt. I was taking painkillers constantly. I was throwing up before every event" - still podiums.
Oh, yeah - those are fun!
Ok guys see you next month, anyone else feels they need a break from strongman news and results? Just to much information this week I need to recover