A SCOT – who previously held the record as the World’s Strongest Man – had to settle for runner-up in the competition, held yesterday in South Carolina.
Tom Stoltman was looking to win his third World’s Strongest Man title, after winning in 2021 and 2022.
However, he was pipped by Mitchell Hooper from Canada – who claimed the first title of his career.
The Invergordon athlete is 6ft 8in, weighing 190kg – he has also previously called autism “his superpower”.
World’s Strongest Man is a multi-discipline competition – picture something like a weightlifting decathlon.
However, instead of using conventional weights, athletes pull large vehicles, carry 100kg anvils, lift equally large logs, and perform many other unusual feats of strength.
Stoltman suffered a bad start on Sunday morning when he finished in joint third place in the max dumbell, earning 6.5 points with only three repetitions.
Hooper managed four repetitions to tie with Evan Singleton and earn 9.5 points to give him a healthy advantage over Stoltman.
Going into the final round of the Atlas Stones, Stoltman was 5.5 points behind.
Despite Stoltman winning the Atlas Stones – lifting all five in 33.26 to claim 10 points – Hooper lifted all five in 36.96 to secure the title.
