The 2022 World’s Strongest Man (WSM) is about to happen on Might 24-29, 2022, in Sacramento, CA. The premier occasion within the strongman sphere will but once more see among the world’s high power sports activities athletes vie for the legendary Barry Frank Trophy. On April 27, 2022, the WSM group revealed this yr’s competitors’s respective occasion format.
2022 World’s Strongest Man Occasion Schedule
Right here is the complete lineup and schedule of occasions, together with the Qualifying Stage and a two-day Finals:
Qualifying Spherical, Day 1 — Tuesday, Might twenty fourth, 2022
- Loading Race
- Deadlift Ladder
Qualifying Spherical, Day 2 — Wednesday, Might twenty fifth, 2022
Qualifying Spherical, Day 3 — Thursday, Might twenty sixth, 2022
- Wrecking Ball Maintain
- Stone Off
Last, Day 1 — Saturday, Might twenty eighth, 2022
Last, Day 2 — Sunday, Might twenty ninth, 2022
- Bus Pull
- Reign Complete Physique Gas Energy Stairs
- Atlas Stones
On the time of this writing, WSM has not introduced which athletes shall be of their particular Qualifying Teams. Notably, the 2021 WSM noticed completely different, random attracts for the assorted occasions. This yr, each Qualifying Group will tackle the identical occasions.
The 2022 WSM format will consist of 5 teams with six athletes every. The respective winner of every group advances to the Last, whereas the second and third-place finishers will conflict in a Stone Off to notch a spot within the Last. The fourth, fifth, and sixth-place athletes will go away the competitors.
Within the Stone Off, the onus is on the third-place finisher — who has the primary crack at lifting the stones and dangers elimination in the event that they fail to finish a carry. That end result will maintain even when they increase the identical variety of stones as their competitor. The 5 respective winners of the Stone Off will take the remaining spots within the Last.
[Related: 2022 Giants Live Strongman Classic Reveals Lineup]
2022 WSM Occasion Breakdown
Listed below are extra specifics on the occasions that the rivals can anticipate in Sacramento.
Loading Race
Considered one of strongman’s customary occasions, the Loading Race will make one other look on the 2022 WSM. It was an occasion that each Qualifying Group took half in throughout the 2021 WSM.
The 2021 respective Loading Race winners are reigning WSM Champion Tom Stoltman, Maxime Boudreault, Konstantine Janashia, Kevin Faires, and Robert Oberst. Every of those rivals has a spot within the 2022 lineup save for Oberst.
Deadlift Ladder
In the meantime, the Deadlift Ladder occasion makes its debut throughout the 2022 WSM. Rivals will begin their deadlifts with 650-pound barbells and ultimately work their means as much as 750 kilos. The athletes have an additional incentive to complete their pulls rapidly, which is able to reward them with extra factors.
Automotive Stroll
One other occasion making a return after an absence, the Automotive Stroll will see the athletes strap a Volkswagen Bug to their shoulders as they try to stroll it down a 25-meter path. 2019 WSM Champion Martin Licis is a competitor to look at right here.
Licis usually excels with the Yoke Stroll — which is analogous to the Automotive Stroll, albeit with the automotive being extra unwieldy. The strongman crushed a Yoke Stroll throughout the 2021 Rogue Invitational when he carried a 455-kilogram yoke (1,000-pound) 50 ft in simply over 44 seconds. That mark was sufficient to have Licis lap the subsequent finest competitor by nearly six seconds and garner a second-place end to Mateusz Kieliszkowski (41.74 seconds) — who lately withdrew from the 2022 WSM competitors.
Log Carry
The Log Carry ought to be a spectacle to look at. Most of the featured athletes fare fairly effectively with their overhead power.
Bobby Thompson particularly shall be below the microscope as he holds the American log carry document with a 217.5-kilogram press (479.5 kilos) from the 2021 Conflict on the Coast. The 2021 Europe’s Strongest Man (ESM) Luke Stoltman also needs to be somebody to control. Stoltman holds the British log carry document with a 221-kilogram press (487-pound) from the World Final Strongman’s “Feat of Energy” sequence.
[Related: Watch Strongman Trey Mitchell Crush A 405-Pound Behind-The-Neck Press For 3 Reps]
Wrecking Ball Maintain
The Wrecking Ball Maintain is making its first-ever look on the WSM competitors. Athletes can have the duty of lifting an enormous wrecking ball and holding it for so long as potential.
Stone Off
The Stone Off shall be no shock to the rivals who’re intimately accustomed to the famed Atlas Stones. Tom “King of the Stones” Stoltman is perhaps the favourite. He received the ultimate Atlas Stones occasion (5 lifts in 20.21 seconds) throughout the 2021 WSM — a significant component in his eventual victory.
Two of the athletes, Trey Mitchell and 2022 ESM Champion Oleksii Novikov, also needs to make straightforward work of the stones. The 2 strongmen had a Stone Off for the ages throughout the 2019 WSM when Mitchell’s 14 profitable staggering reps beat Novikov’s 13.
Together with his latest ESM victory, Novikov has certified for the rostrum in 13 of his final 14 sanctioned competitions. He’s assuredly looking for redemption after not advancing from the 2021 Qualifying Spherical.
Giants Medley
The KNAACK® Giants Medley is similar to the Loading Race, save for a construction that contains a field carry and tremendous Yoke.
Deadlift
On the time of writing, the WSM group hasn’t confirmed whether or not the deadlift occasion is for a one-rep max or for reps. After tying for first (10 reps every) throughout the 2021 WSM, Mitchell and Adam Bishop are the reigning winners. Mitchell simply barely missed out on an eleventh rep earlier than time expired.
Flintstone Barbell
Yet one more occasion making a comeback, the strongmen will carry a pair of giants stone on every arm sleeve in what’s functionally a behind-the-neck press. They are going to take turns trying to carry the identical weights, with that quantity successively rising in every spherical.
Bus Pull
The Bus Pull will see the athletes pull a Sacramento Regional Transit bus that weighs roughly 40,000 kilos in a race in opposition to the clock. The bottom’s floor and the tires’ traction ought to undoubtedly play a task for the eventual victor.
Energy Stairs
The Energy Stairs asks the athletes to hold an anvil-esque implement up a flight of stairs as quick as they will.
This occasion was the wheelhouse for five-time WSM Champion Mariusz Pudzianowski — who partly received his fifth WSM title in 2008 on the power of a stellar Energy Stairs efficiency.
Atlas Stones
As is the custom, the competitors will shut with the Atlas Stones. Whereas Tom Stoltman shall be favored, quite a lot of the opposite athletes like Licis, Mitchell, Novikov, and Brian Shaw share an identical proficiency with the Atlas Stones. Consequently, the occasion might as soon as extra probably determine this yr’s champion.
2022 World’s Strongest Man Lineup
Right here’s the present checklist of athletes set to compete throughout this yr’s occasion:
- Tom Stoltman (United Kingdom) — Reigning WSM Champion
- Brian Shaw (United States) — 2021 WSM 2nd place
- Maxime Boudreault (Canada) — 2021 WSM third place
- Mitchell Hooper (Canada)
- Pavlo Kordiyaka (Ukraine)
- Rob Kearney (United States)
- Gabriel Peña (Mexico)
- Kelvin de Ruiter (Netherlands)
- Kim Ujarak (Greenland)
- Mark Felix (United Kingdom)
- Pa O’Dwyer (Eire)
- Shane Flowers (United Kingdom)
- Jean-Stephen Coraboeuf (Australia)
- Bobby Thompson (United States)
- Aivars Smaukstelis (Latvia)
- Adam Bishop (United Kingdom)
- Evan Singleton (United States)
- Eythor Ingolfsson Melsted (Iceland)
- Konstantine Janashia (Georgia)
- Charles “Trey” Mitchell (United States)
- Mika Törrö (Finland)
- Peiman Maheripourehir (Iran)
- Luke Stoltman (United Kingdom)
- Bobby Thompson (United States)
- Kevin Faires (United States)
- Nedžmin Ambešković (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
- Gabriel Rheaume (Canada)
- Martins Licis (United States)
- Gavin Bilton (United Kingdom)
- Oleksii Novikov (Ukraine)
A number of potential storylines lie in anticipate this yr’s competitors. Whereas Tom Stoltman is looking for a repeat, it may very well be the yr of an upstart who surprises and takes house the hallowed WSM title.
Featured picture: @theworldsstrongestman on Instagram
