World's Ultimate Strongman

World's Ultimate Strongman

Tournament information
Location	United Arab Emirates,  Bahrain
Established	2018; 6 years ago (2018)
Number of tournaments	4
Format	Multi-event competition
Current champion
Oleksii Novikov
Most recent tournament
2021 World's Ultimate Strongman

World's Ultimate Strongman was an annual strongman competition which was held from 2018 to 2021 with the participation of top strongmen from all over the world, determining who is the strongest man in the world. The event was noted for its brute-strength-centricity and expanded the sport to a wider audience outside of Europe and USA. It also introduced the 'feats of strength' series in 2020, ensuring the continuous expansion of the sport during the Covid-19 pandemic. The competition has a number of rival and parallel competitions, including the World's Strongest Man, the Arnold Strongman Classic and the Giants Live Tour.

History

The inaugural edition of the competition was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and out of a very stacked field of 12 athletes, the Icelandic Giant Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson emerged victorious and was crowned the inaugural champion. The 2019 edition was also held in Dubai and was won by Poland's Mateusz Kieliszkowski.

On February 22, 2020, World's Ultimate Strongman announced the competition would be expanding and would hold the championship in Bahrain at the Bahrain International Circuit with a purse of $350,000 which was the largest for any strongman competition.^[1] However, on March 13, 2020, they released a statement entailing that it had to be postponed due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, until a new date would be announced when it's logistically feasible.^[2] The 2020 competition was finally held in March 2021 in Muharraq under the name '2021 WUS Strength Island' and in September they hosted the 2021 competition back in Dubai. Both competitions were won by Ukraine's Oleksii Novikov.

Championships

2018 World's Ultimate Strongman

Events: Truck pull, Arm over arm pull, Silver Dollar Deadlift, Overhead Medley, Super Yoke, Atlas stones

Rank	Name	Country	Points
1.	Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson	Iceland	60.5
2.	Brian Shaw	United States	57
3.	Mateusz Kieliszkowski	Poland	52.5
4.	JF Caron	Canada	48
5.	Laurence Shahlaei	England	42.5
6.	Konstantine Janashia	Georgia	38
7.	Martins Licis	United States	34.5
8.	Tom Stoltman	Scotland	31.5
9.	Terry Hollands	England	31
10.	Žydrūnas Savickas	Lithuania	27.5
11.	Luke Stoltman	Scotland	25
12.	Cheick Sanou	Burkina Faso	18

^[3]

2019 World's Ultimate Strongman

Events: Deadlift, Truck pull, Log lift, Medley, Atlas stones

Rank	Name	Country	Points
1.	Mateusz Kieliszkowski	Poland	55.5
2.	Luke Stoltman	Scotland	50.5
3.	Tom Stoltman	Scotland	47.5
4.	Brian Shaw	United States	44.5
Co 5.	Oleksii Novikov	Ukraine	42.5
Co 5.	Rauno Heinla	Estonia	42.5
7.	JF Caron	Canada	39
8.	Mikhail Shivlyakov	Russia	36
9.	Matjaz Belsak	Slovenia	31.5
10.	Ramin Farajnejad	Iran	30
11.	Cheick Sanou	Burkina Faso	28
12.	Krzysztof Radzikowski	Poland	24
13.	Jerry Pritchett	United States	21.5
14.	Terry Hollands	England	15

^[4]

2020 World's Ultimate Strongman (a.k.a. 2021 WUS Strength Island)

Events: Axel Deadlift, Flag Hoist, Circus Dumbbell press, Loading race, Atlas stones

Rank	Name	Country	Points
1.	Oleksii Novikov	Ukraine	70
2.	JF Caron	Canada	58
3.	Aivars Šmaukstelis	Latvia	55
4.	Luke Stoltman	Scotland	47
Co 5.	Tom Stoltman	Scotland	43
Co 5.	Ramin Farajnejad	Iran	43
Co 5.	Mohammed Ezatpour	Iran	43
8.	Bobby Thompson	United States	41.5
9.	Eyþór Ingólfsson Melsteð	Iceland	33.5
10.	Adam Bishop	England	33
11.	Rauno Heinla	Estonia	32
12.	Ervin Toots	Estonia	30.5
13.	Rob Kearney	United States	26.5
14.	Konstantine Janashia	Georgia	24
15.	Mikhail Shivlyakov	Russia	17

^[5]

2021 World's Ultimate Strongman

Events: Log lift, Super yoke, Farmer's walk, Chain Railway carriage, Atlas stones

Rank	Name	Country	Points
1.	Oleksii Novikov	Ukraine	45.5
2.	Mateusz Kieliszkowski	Poland	44.5
3.	Aivars Šmaukstelis	Latvia	34.5
4.	JF Caron	Canada	32
5.	Konstantine Janashia	Georgia	27
6.	Bobby Thompson	United States	26.5
7.	Mohammed Ezatpour	Iran	18
8.	Ervin Toots	Estonia	17
9.	Rauno Heinla	Estonia	15
10.	Ramin Farajnejad	Iran	12

^[6]

Championship breakdown

Year	Champion	Runner-Up	3rd Place	Location
2018[7]	Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson	Brian Shaw	Mateusz Kieliszkowski	Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2019[8]	Mateusz Kieliszkowski	Luke Stoltman	Tom Stoltman	Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2020[9]	Oleksii Novikov	JF Caron	Aivars Šmaukstelis	Muharraq, Bahrain
2021[10]	Oleksii Novikov	Mateusz Kieliszkowski	Aivars Šmaukstelis	Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Championships by country

Country	Titles
Ukraine	2
Iceland	1
Poland	1

Feats of Strength series

Due to the postponement of worldwide sporting events and travel restrictions being in place for many countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic, World's Ultimate Strongman announced an at home/private gym Feats of Strength series with differing strongman record attempts to be live streamed for free. Below are the record attempts (Men's World Record unless otherwise stated):

Season 1

Date	Attempt	Athlete	Existing Record and Holder	Record Broken?	New Record if Broken
May 2, 2020[11][12]	Maximum Deadlift (standard bar)	Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson	500kg ( Eddie Hall)	Yes	501kg
May 16, 2020[13]	Maximum Log Lift	Luke Stoltman	228kg ( Žydrūnas Savickas)	No	-
May 23, 2020[14]	Maximum Atlas Stone Lift	Tom Stoltman	273kg ( Tom Stoltman)	Yes	286kg
May 30, 2020[15]	100kg Dumbbell Press for Repetitions	Oleksii Novikov	10 repetitions ( Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson)	Yes	11 repetitions
June 6, 2020[16]	Maximum Atlas Stone Lift Women's Under-64kg Record	Rhianon Lovelace	139kg	Yes	141kg
June 13, 2020[17]	Maximum Log Lift American Record	Rob Kearney	214kg ( Rob Kearney)	Yes	216kg
June 20, 2020[18]	400kg Deadlift (standard bar) for Repetitions	Jerry Pritchett	5 repetitions ( Jean-François Caron) ( Konstantine Janashia)	No	-
		Rauno Heinla		Equalled	-
June 20, 2020[19]	Raw Bench Press (power bar)	Julius Maddox 1	349kg ( Julius Maddox)	No	-
June 27, 2020	Maximum Deadlift (standard bar) Masters (Over-40s) Record	Terry Hollands	430kg ( James Hickey)	No	-
		Mikhail Shivlyakov		No	-
July 4, 2020	Maximum Log Lift Women's Record	Andrea Thompson	129kg ( Danielle Vaji)	Yes	135kg
July 11, 2020	400kg Deadlift (standard bar) for Repetitions	Adam Bishop 2	5 repetitions ( Jean-François Caron) ( Rauno Heinla) ( Konstantine Janashia)	No	-
		Jean-François Caron		No	-

¹ It was found during the event that Maddox's bar had been misloaded with one side being 25kg heavier than the other.
² It was found during the event that Bishop had 402.5kg on the barbell, rather than 400kg, causing an unofficial world record of 402.5kg for 4 repetitions.

Season 2

Date	Attempt	Athlete	Existing Record and Holder	Record Broken?	New Record if Broken
September 13, 2020	400kg Deadlift (standard bar) for Repetitions	Rauno Heinla	5 repetitions ( Jean-François Caron) ( Rauno Heinla) ( Konstantine Janashia)	Yes	6 repetitions
		Konstantine Janashia		No	-
September 20, 2020		Trey Mitchell	6 repetitions ( Rauno Heinla)	No	-
September 27, 2020	Maximum Atlas Stone Lift	Tom Stoltman	286kg ( Tom Stoltman)	No	-
	Maximum Atlas Stone Lift Women's Record	Donna Moore	162kg ( Donna Moore)	Yes	171kg
October 4, 2020	Maximum Deadlift (strongwoman) - standard bar Women's Record	Andrea Thompson	275kg ( Melissa Edwards)	Yes	290kg
October 11, 2020	Maximum Log Lift	Rob Kearney	228kg ( Žydrūnas Savickas)	No	-
		Luke Stoltman		No	-
October 18, 2020	Maximum Deadlift (standard bar)	Rauno Heinla	501kg ( Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson)	No	-
		Ivan Makarov		No	-
	Maximum Deadlift (standard bar) Masters (Over-40s) Record	Mikhail Shivlyakov	435kg ( James Hickey)	Yes	436kg

Commonly contested events

• Deadlift – Lifting weights or vehicles straight off the ground until knees lock in a standing position. The 2018 edition consisted of a max Silver Dollar Deadlift, a variation in which the weight is lifted from 18 inches (460 mm). Straps are allowed for this variation. The 2019 edition used the conventional strongman version of the deadlift, using a standard deadlift bar with straps and a deadlift suit.^[20]
• Super Yoke – Apparatus composed of a crossbar and two uprights. The uprights each have a heavy weight attached to them, such as a refrigerator or diesel engine, and the competitors must carry the yoke on their shoulders for a short distance.^[21]
• Shield Carry – Athletes compete in carrying a 'shield' usually weighing between 160–180 kilograms (350–400 lb) for distance or a set distance for the fastest time. The Shield Carry can be its own event or be used alongside the super yoke.
• Press Medley – Athletes must press various equipment overhead such as a log, axle, circus barbell, and giant dumbbell. The event is scored based on the number of implements completed, then the fastest time.
• Vehicle pull – Vehicles such as transport trucks, trams, boxcars, buses, or planes are pulled across a 100-foot (30 m) course as fast as possible. One variation sees the competitors pull the object with a rope toward them. Another has them attached to a rope which is attached to a vehicle, while they use another rope to pull themselves down the course.^[22]
• Atlas Stones – Five heavy round stones increasing in weight from 170–225 kilograms (375–496 lb) are lifted and set on platforms. When the stones were first introduced to the competition, it was an individual event and the platforms were all of equal height. The modern Atlas Stones event takes place on a 16–33-foot (5–10 m) long course and the competitors participate two at a time. In the 2019 edition, a 10 stone event was introduced with stones ranging from 100–200 kilograms (220–440 lb), a first of its kind.^[23]