We’re just two weeks away from the beginning of the most hotly anticipated event in strongman. The qualifying rounds of the 2018 World’s Strongest Man competition run from April 28th til May 1st before the two-day finals are held on May 5th and 6th in Manila, and our sources have passed BarBend a preview of the qualifying groups and events we can expect to see.
[Read more: the full list of athletes competing at the World’s Strongest Man.]
Everyone has the same Event 1 and Event 6: the events kick off with the Load and Carry on Saturday and end with Atlas Stones on Tuesday.
But there’s quite a bit of variety with regard to the other events and when the athletes compete: Group 1 and 4 have two events on Saturday and one on Sunday, while everyone else has one event on Saturday and two on Sunday. All athletes get one event on Monday so that they can come in full strength for two events on Tuesday.
Without further ado, these are the groups and events you can expect to see.
Group 1
Matjaz Belsak (SLO)
Hafthor Julius Bjornsson (ISL)
Rob Kearney (USA)
Marius Lalas (LTU)
Peiman Maheripourehir (IRI)
Laurence Shahlaei (GBR)
Saturday, April 28:
Event 1: Load and Carry
Event 2: Circle of Strength
Sunday, April 29
Event 3: Squat Lift
Monday, April 30
Event 4: Arm Over Arm
Tuesday, May 1
Event 5: Overhead Log
Event 6: Atlas Stones
Group 2
Adam Bishop (GBR)
Adam Derks (USA)
Johan Els (RSA)
Johnny Hansson (SWE)
Vytautas Lalas (LTU)
Brian Shaw (USA)
Saturday, April 28
Event 1: Load and Carry
Sunday, April 29
Event 2: Kettlebell Toss
Event 3: Deadlift
Monday, April 30
Event 4: Arm Over Arm
Tuesday, May 1
Event 5: Dumbbell Medley
Event 6: Atlas Stones
Group 3
Graham Hicks (GBR)
Iron Biby (BUR)
Dennis Kohlruss (GER)
Robert Oberst (USA)
Zydrunas Savickas (LTU)
Luke Stoltman (GBR)
Saturday, April 28
Event 1: Load and Carry
Sunday, April 29
Event 2: Kettlebell Toss
Event 3: Squat Lift
Monday, April 30
Event 4: Bus Pull
Tuesday, May 1
Event 5: Overhead Log
Event 6: Atlas Stones
Group 4
JF Caron (CAN)
Mark Felix (GBR)
Martin Forsmark (SWE)
Rongo Keene (AUS)
Martins Licis (USA)
Krzysztof Radzikowski (POL)
Saturday, April 28
Event 1: Load and Carry
Event 2: Circle of Strength
Sunday, April 29
Event 3: Deadlift
Monday, April 30
Event 4: Arm Over Arm
Tuesday, May 1
Event 5: Dumbbell Medley
Event 6: Atlas Stones
Group 5
Nick Best (USA)
Terry Hollands (GBR)
Konstantine Janashia (GEO)
Mateusz Kieliszkowski (POL)
Mikhail Shivlyakov (RUS)
Aivars Smaukstelis (LAT)
Saturday, April 28
Event 1: Load and Carry
Sunday, April 29
Event 2: Kettlebell Toss
Event 3: Deadlift
Monday, April 30
Event 4: Bus Pull
Tuesday, May 1
Event 5: Dumbbell Medley
Event 6: Atlas Stones
Note that Adam Bishop is still listed as a competitor despite having partially torn his bicep before Europe’s Strongest Man. While one might assume he’d be dropping out of WSM, he posted on his Instagram that “luckily the tendon is intact, however I need to rest it in order to compete at WSM in 3 weeks time.”
This year’s competition is stacked. Best of luck to all the athletes.
Featured image via @thorbjornsson on Instagram.
