The 2018 World's Strongest Man - official thread with videos / photos and results!

Hi guys,
in this thread I will post all the results from the 2018 WSM, info about the events, qualifiers and videos / pics.
If you have any info feel free to post it.

Alright, so the 2018 Wold's Strongest Man will take place in Manila, Phillipines.
Qualifiers: April 28 - May 01 in Manila, Philippines
Finals: May 05 - 06 in Manila, Philippines






These were the groups in the heats / qualifiers, and the top 2 in each group advanced in the finals. This year the "special rule" was that if the guy in the 3rd place beat the guy in the 2nd place in the last event aka the stones, then he would be the one to advance in the finals, no matter the point difference between 3rd vs 2nd.Pretty shitty rule if you ask me, but hey what do I know.



Here you can find the spreadsheets with all the results (times, reps, etc) for each group in the heats:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...pb6iFH6DVbu73et8fysVp-85LQ/edit#gid=503295881



Some of the videos from different events of those who already qualified:

The qualified athletes for the finals are:

Hafthor Bjornsson
Matjaz Belsak
Brian Shaw
Johan Els
Zydrunas Savickas
Robert Oberst
Martins Licis
Jean-François Caron
Mateusz Kieliszkowski
Konstantine Janashia


For the Finals they will have to go through the following events:

Frame Carry
Similar to Farmers Walk, but instead it is a "Frame" that is caarried for speed over a course. A Time is given for those that -
finish and distance measured for those that do not finish the course in time. NOTE: this is the same event as Event 1 in the .

Loading Race
Items are to be carried and loaded down a course. Multiple items are to be included and as they are still to be finalised.
However, example items that may include are Anchor, Barrels, Sacks, etc

Vehicle Pull
As per normal truck pull. In other words. Athletes use a "Harness and Rope" to pull the vehicle, and they achieve either a time or distance.

Vehicle Deadlift
Repetitions are done on a Deadlift frame which holds a vehicle. Most Deadlift repetitions wins in the time period.

Overhead Max
A simple "weight-lifting style" competition.
Expect the lifting to be done on a standard Olympic Bar with clean and overhead rules being similar to max Axle. In other words - you can clean The bar in mulitple ways. And then press or jerk the bar to overhead. No use of belt allowed though.

Expect the end weights to be "Axle Wheels", and then added weight will go on the ends. As per "last man standing style" of contests - There will be a set of rising weights to be chosen at the discretion of the Referee Team. Most weight lifted wins.

Atlas Stones
As normal - a series of Atlas stones that increase is weight are to be lifted as per normal- thus, it is a timed race
head to head with normal points awared for placing.

Frame Carry Similar to Farmers Walk, but instead it is a "Frame" that is caarried for speed over a course. A Time is given for those that - finish and distance measured for those that do not finish the course in time. NOTE: this is the same event as Event 1 in the 2016 WSM Grand Final. Loading Race Items are to be carried and loaded down a course. Multiple items are to be included and as they are still to be finalised. However, example items that may include are Anchor, Barrels, Sacks, etc Vehicle Pull As per normal truck pull. In other words. Athletes use a "Harness and Rope" to pull the vehicle, and they achieve either a time or distance. Vehicle Deadlift Repetitions are done on a Deadlift frame which holds a vehicle. Most Deadlift repetitions wins in the time period. Overhead Max A simple "weight-lifting style" competition Expect the lifting to be done on a standard Olympic Bar with clean and overhead rules being similar to max Axle. In other words - you can clean The bar in mulitple ways. And then press or jerk the bar to overhead. No use of belt allowed though. Expect the end weights to be "Axle Wheels", and then added weight will go on the ends. As per "last man standing style" of contests - There will be a set of rising weights to be chosen at the discretion of the Referee Team. Most weight lifted wins. Atlas Stones As normal - a series of Atlas stones that increase is weight are to be lifted as per normal- thus, it is a timed race head to head with normal points awared for placing.

I'm looking forward to this! Thank you bro!

Here are some updates after day 1 of the finals.
The 3 events of the day were:

375kg/825lbs Frame Carry
380kg/ 838lbs Car Deadlift
Max Overhead



375kg/825lbs Frame Carry


Mateusz Kieliszkowski (POL) vs Brian Shaw (USA) vs Thor (ISL) vs Martins Licis (USA) vs Big Z (LTU)


*Big Z came to this WSM with an old achilles injury and in the heats in the bus pull event he injured it again.



380kg/ 838lbs Car Deadlift


Hafthor Bjornsson (ISL) vs Konstantine Janashia (GEO): 12 reps vs 7 reps




Brian Shaw (USA) vs Mateusz Kieliszkowski (POL): 12 reps vs 3 reps

Max Overhead

Thor (ISL) wins the max overhead with a 205kg / 452lbs



Brian Shaw (USA) missed the 200kg / 441lbs max overhead, so his max at this event is 190kg / 420lbs



Matesz Kielszkowski (POL) ties for 2nd place with a 200kg/441lbs lift



Martins Licis (USA) successful with the 200kg/441lbs lift



Zydrunas "Big Z" Savickas (LTU) maxing out at 190kg/420 lbs and misses the 200kg/441lbs lift as Brian Shaw



Robert Oberst (USA) ties with Big Z and Brian for the 190kg/420lbs max overhead lift

Results and standings after the 1st day:

The final 3 events for the 2018 World's Strongest Man were:


Bus Pull

Mateusz Kieliszkowski (POL) winning the Bus Pull event


Hafthor Bjornsson (ISL) placing 2nd in the Bus Pull


Brian Shaw (USA) with the 4th time in this event



Loading Race

Thor vs Mateusz in the loading race (1st and 2nd)


Brian Shaw vs Matjaz Belsak (Brian got 5th in this one)




Atlas Stones

Thor vs Mateusz in the final event, the stones


Brian Shaw vs Martins Licis battle for the 3rd place

The final results are:

Thor wins the 2018 World's Strongest Man!

*Zydrunas Savickas withdrawn from the competiton because of the achilles injury. Miss those times when he was at his best..

Eddie Hall (WSM 2017 winner) handing the trophy to the 2018 winner: Thor

Top 3:
1. Hafthor Bjornsson
2. Mateusz Kieliszkowski
3. Brian Shaw

Thor is also the 1st strongman to win the Arnold Classic Strongman (known as the heaviest competition of the year), the Europe Strongest Man and the World's Strongest Man, ALL in the same year!

I had no doubt Thor was going to win. This is incredible. I can't wait to watch the videos!

Thanjs for covering it bro! Love having the strongman stuff here!

Thor is a giant!

Here's a great quality and angle video from the finals, covering all the events:

Any bleeding this time?

Damn Thor is a beast!!!...................also seeing than Zydrunas is back at strongman after his lost of weight cutting time

What's more remarkable are the devices and the weights used for the competition. That was the first time I've seen one of those. I liked the barrel device (one barrel falls after a successful lift). The participants are fantastic too. I was wondering how long did it take to have a body like theirs. Thanks for sharing.

To set one's mind into achieving one's dreams in becoming the World's Strongest Man is an unbelievable task. These men are wired with a whole different dimension, being able to pull of such insane tasks is absolutely crazy. I can remember when Mark Henry won the strongman contest at the Arnold Classic in Columbus some years back which led him to start using the name World's Strongest Man when he moved into wrestling.