Congratulations to Thor, still young but a long road to his first Arnold.
Shaw probably made some mistakes but Thor was the man this year
Well done to Mikhail, always a fan favourite and a fantastic result.
Like I said in an earlier edit, I can’t remember a competition Shaw didn’t outright win an event!
Leaderboard
1st Hafthor Julius Bjornsson 45.5
2nd Brian Shaw 42
3rd Mikhail Shivlyakov 30
Event 1 - Bag over Bar
1st Hafthor Julius Bjornsson
2nd Brian Shaw
3rd Mikhail Shivlyakov
Event 2 - Natural Stone Shoulder
1st Mateusz Kieliszkowski
2nd Mikhail Shivlyakov
3rd Hafthor Julius Bjornsson
Kieliszkowski destroyed the field on this one.
Event 3 - Timber Frame Carry
1st Jerry Pritchett
2nd Brian Shaw
3rd Hafthor Julius Bjornsson
Event 4 - Deadlift
1st Hafthor Julius Bjornsson
2nd Jean-François Caron
3rd Brian Shaw
Event 5 - Apollon Wheel
1st Hafthor Julius Bjornsson
1st Brian Shaw
3rd Rauno Heinla
Biased Rant: looks awesome but seriously stupid event. A normal axle is bad enough but 2.5 inch thick just crushed the athletes - JF and Dimitar were frightening, Jerry looked to tear a bicep, Mikhail wanted nothing to do with it and lots of stumbles…
Record Breakers
Hafthor Julius Bjornsson; toss 56lbs over 20ft
Martins Licis; Steinborn Squat 550lbs
Donna Moore; Slater Stone (no tacky) 324lbs, 2 reps
Kieliszkowski is an incredible athlete. His plane pull in wsm was insane given his “low” bodyweight. Also an exceptional presser.
Although I guess He will lose some ground on the deadlift.
this is precisely why I liked it. Because I know what a ‘normal’ axle feels like. I can handle it. These guys are the best of the best, giving them an implement to use that no amateur would ever see in comp is pretty cool to me. I like seeing events at the Arnold that aren’t rep fests. The reps ranged from 0 to 4, and only one guy zeroed. That’s pretty ideal to me. WSM can do the rep fest, and the Arnold can be heavy and crazy difficult. I like seeing both.
We have to accept that injuries are going to happen. It’s the case every year. I don’t see this as being more dangerous than heavy atlas stones.
Thor earned the fuck out of that win. Owned that whole show.
Gotta say, Mateusz is so fucking awesome. He harnessed that stoic nonchalant “Es, I lift dis now, watch I show you” attitude that Mariusz had. Totally a pole thing LOL. Him and Licis are gonna be like the new dominating light weights among giants for the years to come.
Also, Donna Moore is absolutely incredible. My jaw dropped at how easy she loaded a 300+ stone of that diameter with no tacky. The entire field struggled and she just did it so easily. She’s certainly unlike anything the sport has seen in a very long time, since Jill Mills.
Jerry double overhanded it. I’m not sure, but it looked like he might have come in with a bicep problem. Even the first rep that he got was double overhand, which itself is pretty amazing.
We have a 3 inch axle (fondly known as the demon bar). It’s a far harder leap to go from an axle to this thing than from a barbell to an axle. Like the cyr, it’s unreal in person.
Something to keep in mind though, the biggest guys like Shaw and Thor DO have enormous hands. I would think a 3" axle in Thor’s hand feels more or less like what a 2" axle feels like in mine.