The 2021 World's Strongest Man was the 44th edition of the World's Strongest Man competition, an event that took place in Sacramento, California from June 15 to June 20, 2021. The defending champion was Oleksii Novikov of Ukraine, though he failed to progress to the final after coming fourth in his heat. In so doing, he became the first World's Strongest Man reigning champion to compete at the following year's event and fail to qualify for the final since Magnús Ver Magnússon in the 1997 competition. The contest was won by Tom Stoltman who improved on his second place finish the previous year. Four-time champion Brian Shaw came second, returning to the podium after a 2 year absence, and Canada's Maxime Boudreault came third.

Participants Graham Hicks of the UK withdrew the day before the competition began, and was replaced by Ervin Toots of Estonia. As a result, Gavin Bilton of the UK was moved from group 5 to group 1, and Toots took Bilton's place in group 5.

Luke Richardson suffered a biceps injury during the first day of competition and withdrew.

Terry Hollands suffered an injury during day 1 of the heats, and withdrew after 2 events.

Chris van der Linde also withdrew from the competition after 2 events.

Finalists The contest is divided in a qualifying round and finals. There are ten finals participants, and in 2021 they include: Brian Shaw (United States) Trey Mitchell (United States) JF Caron (Canada) Konstantine Janashia (Georgia) Bobby Thompson (United States) Maxime Boudreault (Canada) Tom Stoltman (United Kingdom) Eythor Ingolfsson Melsted (Iceland) Adam Bishop (United Kingdom) Luke Stoltman (United Kingdom)

Heat Results Format The 25 athletes were divided into 5 groups of 5 athletes, with 2 athletes from each group progressing to the final of 10. The winner of each group progressed to the final, and 2nd and 3rd in each group would then advance to a 'Stone Off', from which the winner would also progress.

Heat 1 Events: Loading Race, Squat Lift for repetitions, Fingal's Fingers, Overhead Medley, Pickaxe Hold. # Name Nationality Pts 1 Brian Shaw 19.5 2 Maxime Boudreault 17 3 Aivars Šmaukstelis 16.5 4 Gavin Bilton 12 5 Travis Ortmayer 10

Stone Off Name Nationality Stones Maxime Boudreault 7 Aivars Smaukstelis 7

Heat 2 Events: Loading Race, Deadlift for repetitions, Train Push, Overhead Medley, Pickaxe Hold. # Name Nationality Pts 1 Trey Mitchell 19 2 Tom Stoltman 18 3 Mark Felix 14 4 Evan Singleton 13 5 Johnny Hansson 11

Stone Off Name Nationality Stones Tom Stoltman 5 Mark Felix 5

Heat 3 Events: Loading Race, Squat Lift for repetitions, Train Push, Overhead Medley, Pickaxe Hold. # Name Nationality Pts 1 JF Caron 20 2 Eyþór Ingólfsson Melsteð 17 3 Robert Oberst 16 4 Mikhail Shivlyakov 15 5 Luke Richardson 1 (injured)

Stone Off Name Nationality Stones Eyþór Ingólfsson Melsteð 5 Robert Oberst 5

Heat 4 Events: Loading Race, Deadlift for repetitions, Fingal's Fingers, Overhead Medley, Pickaxe Hold. # Name Nationality Pts 1 Konstantine Janashia 21 2 Adam Bishop 17 3 Jerry Pritchett 15 4 Terry Hollands 7 (injured) 5 Chris van der Linde 3 (withdrew)

Stone Off Name Nationality Stones Adam Bishop 2 Jerry Pritchett 2

Heat 5 Events: Loading Race, Deadlift for repetitions, Fingal's Fingers, Overhead Medley, Pickaxe Hold. # Name Nationality Pts 1 Bobby Thompson 18 2 Luke Stoltman 18 3 Kevin Faires 17 4 Oleksii Novikov 17 5 Ervin Toots 5

Stone Off Name Nationality Stones Luke Stoltman 7 Kevin Faires 7

Finals Events Results Event 1: Giant's Medley Weight: yoke, frame Course Length: yoke, frame # Name Nationality Time (sec) Event Pts Overall Pts 1 Tom Stoltman 18.36 10 10 2 Konstantine Janashia 20.31 9 9 3 Brian Shaw 20.53 8 8 4 Luke Stoltman 20.72 7 7 5 JF Caron 21.31 6 6 6 Adam Bishop 22.39 5 5 7 Bobby Thompson 25.06 4 4 8 Maxime Boudreault 31.43 3 3 9 Trey Mitchell 45.61 2 2 10 Eyþór Ingólfsson Melsteð DNF 1 1

Event 2: Titan's Turntable Weight: Course Length: Time Limit: 75 seconds # Name Nationality Time Event Pts Overall Pts 1 Tom Stoltman 0m 46.89 10 20 2 Trey Mitchell 0m 52.34 9 11 3 Eyþór Ingólfsson Melsteð 0m 52.83 8 9 4 Maxime Boudreault 0m 55.16 7 10 5 Luke Stoltman 0m 55.94 6 13 6 Brian Shaw 0m 56.73 5 13 7 Adam Bishop 0m 57.78 4 9 8 JF Caron 0m 57.84 3 9 9 Konstantine Janashia 1m 0.15 2 11 10 Bobby Thompson 1m 2.31 1 5

Event 3: REIGN Keg Toss Weight: for maximum height Athletes get three attempts for each height # Name Nationality Height Event Pts Overall Pts 1 Brian Shaw 10 23 2 Tom Stoltman 8.5 28.5 2 Maxime Boudreault 8.5 18.5 4 Konstantine Janashia 7 18 5 Luke Stoltman 4 17 5 JF Caron 4 13 5 Adam Bishop 4 13 5 Eyþór Ingólfsson Melsteð 4 13 5 Bobby Thompson 4 9 10 Trey Mitchell 1 12

Event 4: Max Log Lift Opening Weight: # Name Nationality Weight Event Pts Overall Pts 1 Luke Stoltman 10 27 2 Maxime Boudreault 8 26.5 2 Trey Mitchell 8 20 2 Bobby Thompson 8 17 5 Brian Shaw 5 28 5 Konstantine Janashia 5 23 5 JF Caron 5 18 8 Tom Stoltman 2.5 31 8 Eyþór Ingólfsson Melsteð 2.5 15.5 10 Adam Bishop 1 14

Event 5: KNAACK Deadlift Weight: for repetitions Time Limit: 60 seconds # Name Nationality Repetitions Event Pts Overall Pts 1 Trey Mitchell 10 9 29 1 JF Caron 10 9 27 1 Adam Bishop 10 9 23 4 Brian Shaw 9 6.5 34.5 4 Bobby Thompson 9 6.5 23.5 6 Tom Stoltman 8 4.5 35.5 6 Konstantine Janashia 8 4.5 27.5 8 Eyþór Ingólfsson Melsteð 7 3 18.5 9 Luke Stoltman 6 2 29 10 Maxime Boudreault 3 1 27.5

Event 6: Atlas Stones Weight: 5 stones ranging from # Name Nationality Time (sec) Event Pts Overall Pts 1 Tom Stoltman 5 in 20.21 10 45.5 2 Maxime Boudreault 5 in 28.63 9 36.5 3 Brian Shaw 5 in 31.45 8 42.5 4 JF Caron 5 in 37.17 7 34 5 Trey Mitchell 5 in 37.26 6 35 6 Konstantine Janashia 4 in 20.81 5 32.5 7 Adam Bishop 4 in 30.61 4 27 8 Luke Stoltman 4 in 33.50 3 32 9 Eyþór Ingólfsson Melsteð 4 in 33.65 2 20.5 10 Bobby Thompson Withdrew 0 23.5

Final standings # Name Nationality Pts Tom Stoltman 45.5 Brian Shaw 42.5 Maxime Boudreault 36.5 4 Trey Mitchell 35 5 JF Caron 34 6 Konstantine Janashia 32.5 7 Luke Stoltman 32 8 Adam Bishop 27 9 Bobby Thompson 23.5 10 Eyþór Ingólfsson Melsteð 20.5

Records Mark Felix appeared in his record 16th WSM contest.

Brian Shaw qualified for his record 13th WSM final, breaking a tie held by him and Zydrunas Savickas. All 13 of these finals were consecutive, another record. He also extended his own record by appearing in his 14th consecutive WSM contest, and equalled the record 10 podium finishes of Savickas.

Travis Ortmayer set a record for longest absence between consecutive WSM appearances of 10 years, last competing at the 2011 contest. This broke the previous record of 8 years (2003–2011) held by Lithuania's Vidas Blekaitis.

In the third event of the final, 4 men broke the previous world record in the 15 kg Keg Toss for height, which stood at 7.25m (held by Brian Shaw). Konstantine Janashia achieved 7.26m, whereas Tom Stoltman and Maxime Boudreault reached 7.50m, but Shaw reset his record at 7.75m.

References

External links The World's Strongest Man official website