After four grueling days of monster truck pulls, yoke carries, and stone loads, the 2019 World’s Strongest Man has been crowned.
Martins Licis, a 28-year-old from the USA, won the Bradenton, FL event. Mateusz Kieliszkowski of Poland earned second place (and an unofficial first for having the hardest name to pronounce), and Hafthor Bjornsson (Iceland), who suffered a foot injury during Day One, took third.
Bjornsson, aka The Mountain, wasn’t the only competitor to suffer an injury. Great Britain’s Laurence Shahlaei and Iceland’s Sigfus Fossdal both tore their Achilles tendons and dropped out of the competition on Day One. Then, during a head-to-head 441-pound Atlas stone load for max reps on Day Three, American Robert Oberst tore his bicep, which you can see below.
For Licis, who placed second at the Arnold Strongman Classic in March, this is a monumental victory that has cemented him as a dominant competitor for years to come. For four-time World’s Strongest Man winner Brian Shaw, who placed sixth, this could be a sign of slowing down. After all, Shaw is 37, almost a decade older than Licis and seven years older than Bjornsson (who won WSM last year).
Here are the official placings, compliments of barbend.com.
