The World Deadlift Championships is an annual global strongman competition featuring international strength athletes from all over the world, competing exclusively in the strongman deadlift. It was created by Giants Live and the championship focuses on the maximum deadlift in pursuit of the all-time world record deadlift. Having been held for 10 years, 9 of them featured the maximum deadlift event while in 2017, the event was changed to a weight for the most repetitions in 60 seconds.
The championships allow deadlifts to be performed either in equipped or raw standards using only conventional stance adhering with the rules of strongman. Each year the winner is bestowed with the title 'World Deadlift Champion'. Since its inception in 2014, the championships have produced a total of 11 world records including the incumbent all-time world record of by Raul Flores in 2026.
World records Deadlift (for max) – by Raul Flores (2026) Deadlift (for reps) – x 7 reps by Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (2026)
Champions YearChampionRunner-upThird placeHost city 2014 Benedikt Magnússon Eddie Hall Martin Wildauer Laurence Shahlaei 2015 Eddie Hall Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson Rauno Heinla Jerry Pritchett 2016 Eddie Hall Benedikt Magnússon Jerry Pritchett 2017 JF Caron Konstantine Janashia Benedikt Magnússon 2019 Rauno Heinla Jerry Pritchett Adam Bishop Rob Kearney Nedžmin Ambešković 2021 Ivan Makarov 1 Pavlo Nakonechnyy Evan Singleton Adam Bishop Oleksii Novikov Gabriel Peña Nedžmin Ambešković 2022 Rauno Heinla Graham Hicks Ivan Makarov 2 Pavlo Nakonechnyy Mitchell Hooper 2023 Graham Hicks Rauno Heinla Ivan Makarov 2 Evan Singleton 2023 (Women) Lucy Underdown Rebecca Roberts 2024 Rauno Heinla Mitchell Hooper Ivan Makarov Trey Mitchell 2024 (Women) Lucy Underdown 2025 Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson Adam Bishop Austin Andrade 2026 Raul Flores Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson Adam Bishop
1 While Makarov has declared for Russia, he competed for Ukraine at the 2021 World Deadlift Championships. 2 While Makarov has declared for Russia, he competed for Georgia at the 2022 and 2023 World Deadlift Championships.
Heaviest lifts In history (men) Equipped #WeightCompetitorEvent location and nameBar/ standardWorld record?1 Raul Flores Birmingham, England Standard/multi ply suit Yes2 Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson Birmingham, England Standard/multi ply suit Yes3 Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson Bavaria, Germany Standard/multi ply suit Yes4 Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson Reykjavík, Iceland Standard/single ply suit Yes5 Eddie Hall Leeds, England Standard/multi ply suit Yes6 Peiman Maheripour Tehran, Iran Standard/multi ply suit No7 Ivan Makarov Bavaria, Germany Standard/multi ply suit No8 Peiman Maheripour Moscow, Russia Standard/multi ply suit No9 Ivan Makarov Moscow, Russia Standard/multi ply suit No Raul Flores Jalisco, Mexico Standard/multi ply suit No Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson Birmingham, England Standard/multi ply suit No
Raw #WeightCompetitorEvent location and nameBar/ standardWorld record?1 Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson Columbus, United States Elephant/raw Yes2 Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson Columbus, United States Elephant/raw Yes3 Trey Mitchell Las Vegas, United States Standard/raw Yes4 Jerry Pritchett Columbus, United States Elephant/raw Yes5 Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson Columbus, United States Elephant/raw No Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson Columbus, United States Elephant/raw No7 Jerry Pritchett Leeds, England Standard/raw Yes Eddie Hall Columbus, United States Elephant/raw Yes9 Brian Shaw Columbus, United States Elephant/raw No Jean-François Caron Columbus, United States Elephant/raw No Brian Shaw Columbus, United States Elephant/raw No
In history (women) #WeightCompetitorEvent location and nameBar/ standardWorld record?1 Lucy Underdown Las Vegas, United States Standard/single ply suit Yes2 Lucy Underdown Columbus, United States Elephant/ rawYes (Elephant only)3 Lucy Underdown Cardiff, Wales Standard/single ply suit Yes4 Becca Swanson Helsinki, Finland Power/multi ply suit Yes5 Lucy Underdown Aberdeen, Scotland Standard/single ply suit No Lucy Underdown Columbus, United States Elephant/ rawYes (Elephant only)7 Becca Swanson Helsinki, Finland Power/multi ply suitYes8 Jennifer Lyle Columbus, United States Elephant/ rawYes (Elephant only)9 Lucy Underdown Columbus, United States Elephant/raw Yes (Elephant only)10 Becca Swanson Chicago, United States Power/multi ply suit Yes Lucy Underdown Cardiff, Wales Standard/single ply suit Yes (Strongwoman only) Sumer Johnson Roanoke, United States Standard/multi ply suit
At the championships (men) #WeightCompetitorYearBarRecord Set1 Raul Flores 2026 Standard World Record2 Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson 2025 Standard World Record3 Eddie Hall 2016 Standard World Record4 Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson 2026 Standard -5 Rauno Heinla 2022 Standard Estonian Record, World Record (over-40s)6 Ivan Makarov 1 2021 Standard Ukrainian Record7 Graham Hicks 2023 Standard - Trey Mitchell 2024 Standard World Record (raw) Ivan Makarov 2 2024 Standard Georgian Record Rauno Heinla 2024 Standard - Mitchell Hooper 2024 Standard - Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson 2025 Standard - Adam Bishop 2025 Standard - Austin Andrade 2025 Standard - Adam Bishop 2026 Standard -
At the championships (women) #WeightCompetitorYearBarRecord Set1 Lucy Underdown 2024 Standard World Record2 Lucy Underdown 2023 Standard World Record3 Lucy Underdown 2023 Standard English Record4 Lucy Underdown 2024 Standard -5 Rebecca Roberts 2023 Standard Welsh Record Lucy Underdown 2023 Standard -
Continental records (men)
Region Weight Athlete Nation Year North, Central America and Caribbean Raul Flores Mexico 2026 Europe Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson Iceland 2025 Asia Peiman Maheripour Iran 2024 Oceania Mitchell Hooper Australia 2021 Africa Chris van der Linde South Africa 2022 South America Lucas Veronezi Brazil 2026 Willian Brito Piovezan Brazil 2026
Continental records (women) Region Weight Athlete Nation Year Europe Lucy Underdown England 2024 North, Central America and Caribbean Becca Swanson United States 2005 Oceania Lydia Hantke Australia 2025Natalie Laalaai Australia2025 Africa Cherry Muchindu Zambia 2026 South America Mariela Ortellado Argentina 2019 Asia Munkhzul Sodnomdorj Mongolia 2025
Records on other bars and standards Lift details Weight Athlete Nation Year Elephant bar (Standard 9" height) Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson Iceland 2019 Power bar - Conventional (Standard 9" height) Benedikt Magnússon Iceland 2011 Power bar - Sumo (Standard 9" height) 3 Colton Engelbrecht South Africa 2026 Hummer tyre (Elevated 15" height) Oleksii Novikov Ukraine 2022 Silver Dollar (Elevated 18" height) Rauno Heinla Estonia 2022 Axle bar (Elevated 18" height) Roy Orrantia United States 2026
3 This lift has been included as a reference - sumo deadlifts are prohibited and classified as illegal in strongman competitions.
400 kg for reps Best performances in history #RepsCompetitorYearEventRecord Set1 7 reps Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson 2026 Swaglift Day World Record2 6 reps Rauno Heinla 2020 WUS Feats of Strength, Season 2 World Record3 5 reps Benedikt Magnússon 2011 Steve Gym Showdown World Record Konstantine Janashia 2017 World Deadlift Championships Joint-world record Jean-François Caron 2017 World Deadlift Championships Joint-world record Rauno Heinla 2020 WUS Feats of Strength, Season 1 Joint-world record Adam Bishop 2024 Britain's Strongest Man - Tom Stoltman 2024 Britain's Strongest Man - Rayno Nel 2026 World's Strongest Man -
Individual results 2014 World Deadlift Championships The 2014 World Deadlift Championships were held at the Headingley Stadium in Leeds, England on 9 August 2014 as the first event of 2014 Europe's Strongest Man. Benedikt Magnússon set a new world record with and won the championship.
Results # Name Weight 1 Benedikt Magnússon 2 Eddie Hall 3 Martin Wildauer Laurence Shahlaei 5 Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson Johannes Årsjö Mark Felix 8 Graham Hicks Vytautas Lalas Krzysztof Radzikowski Andy Bolton 12 Mikhail Koklyaev No lift X Brian Shaw Withdrew
Records Nation Name Weight World Benedikt Magnússon Icelandic Benedikt Magnússon English Eddie Hall Austrian Martin Wildauer Swedish Johannes Årsjö
2015 World Deadlift Championships The 2015 World Deadlift Championships were held at the Headingley Stadium in Leeds, England on July 11, 2015. Hall set a new world record with and won the championship.
Results # Name Weight 1 Eddie Hall 2 Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson 3 Rauno Heinla Jerry Pritchett 5 Andy Bolton 6 Matjaz Belsak Krzysztof Radzikowski Dainis Zageris Mark Felix Terry Hollands 11 Dimitar Savatinov 12 Luke Stoltman No lift
Records Nation Name Weight World Eddie Hall English Eddie Hall Estonian Rauno Heinla Slovenian Matjaz Belsak
2016 World Deadlift Championships The 2016 World Deadlift Championships were held at the 2016 Europe's Strongest Man event at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, England. Hall set a new world record, becoming the first person in history to deadlift and won the championship.
Results # Name Weight 1 Eddie Hall 2 Benedikt Magnússon Jerry Pritchett 4 Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson 5 Marius Lalas Mark Felix Terry Hollands Laurence Shahlaei 9 Johannes Årsjö Dimitar Savatinov Adam Bishop 12 Stefan Solvi Petursson No lift Mateusz Kieliszkowski
Records Nation Name Weight World Eddie Hall English Eddie Hall Icelandic Benedikt Magnússon American Jerry Pritchett
2017 World Deadlift Championships The 2017 World Deadlift Championships were held at the Giants Live Finals event in Manchester, England. In this edition, the championships were changed to a deadlift for the most repetitions in 60 seconds format with a fixed weight of . Jean-François Caron and Konstantine Janashia performed 5 repetitions each to equal Benedikt Magnússon's world record, and shared the championship win.
Results # Name Repetitions 1 JF Caron 5 Konstantine Janashia 3 Benedikt Magnússon 3 4 Žydrūnas Savickas 2 5 Mikhail Shivlyakov 1 6 Cheick "Iron Biby" Sanou 0 Nick Best Robert Oberst Terry Hollands Laurence Shahlaei Eddie Hall
2019 World Deadlift Championships The 2019 World Deadlift Championships were held at the Wembley Arena in Wembley, England, as the opening event for Giants Live Wembley. In this edition, the championships returned to the max weight deadlift format. Rauno Heinla and Jerry Pritchett shared the championship.
Results # Name Weight 1 Rauno Heinla Jerry Pritchett 3 Rob Kearney Adam Bishop Nedžmin Ambešković 6 Martins Licis Mikhail Shivlyakov Mark Felix 9 Mateusz Kieliszkowski Tom Stoltman 11 Luke Stoltman No lift
Records Nation Name Weight Estonian Rauno Heinla Bosnian Nedžmin Ambešković
2021 World Deadlift Championships The 2021 World Deadlift Championships were held at the AO Arena in Manchester, England, as the opening event for Giants Live World Open. Ivan Makarov won the championship.
Results # Name Weight 1 Ivan Makarov 1 2 Pavlo Nakonechnyy Oleksii Novikov Adam Bishop Evan Singleton Gabriel Peña Nedžmin Ambešković 8 Mikhail Shivlyakov Rauno Heinla Gavin Bilton Andy Black
Records Nation Name Weight Ukrainian Ivan Makarov Mexican Gabriel Peña Bosnian Nedžmin Ambešković Welsh Gavin Bilton
2022 World Deadlift Championships The 2022 World Deadlift Championships were held at the Cardiff International Arena in Cardiff, Wales, as the opening event for Giants Live World Open. Rauno Heinla won the championship, and as a result of another nationality change, Ivan Makarov became the first strongman to hold the national deadlift record for three different countries.
Results # Name Weight 1 Rauno Heinla 2 Ivan Makarov 2 Graham Hicks Pavlo Nakonechnyy Mitchell Hooper 6 Oleksii Novikov Evan Singleton Gavin Bilton 9 Andy Black Shane Flowers Pa O'Dwyer
Records Nation Name Weight World (over-40s) Rauno Heinla Estonian Rauno Heinla Georgian Ivan Makarov Welsh Gavin Bilton
2023 World Deadlift Championships