Strongman fans got their first taste of the Men’s Open category in the sport this year thanks to the World’s Ultimate Strongman “Strength Island” contest that took place earlier this month. Four-time World’s Strongest Man Brian Shaw is now offering a sneak preview of what fans can expect this summer from some of strongman’s biggest names.
Shaw posted a new video on his YouTube channel on March 19th. In that video, he announced the events that the athletes competing in the 2021 Shaw Classic can expect. The contest takes place on August 27 and 28 in Estes Park, Colorado. The two-day contest will feature eight individual events. Shaw is the promoter and reigning champion of this contest, and he explained that the final decision for these events came after serious consideration of how to truly test a competitor. He starts speaking about the events at the 1:21 mark of the video below.
“You know, as you compete in strongman and I had a great and long career in the sport, you come up with ideas, and you come up with thoughts, you know, if I could make the perfect contest to test every aspect of a competitor, this is what I would want to do.”
The two-day contest will have eight total events. Shaw said that some of the parts for these events aren’t ready yet, but they were far enough along that the news could be shared. Some of these are classic strongman lifts while others could be considered newer concepts.
Max Log – The log press was a popular lift in 2020, and it will be the kickoff for this competition. The first thought that will come to the minds of many fans is Zydrunas Savickas, who is the current world record holder in this lift. He will be in this competition, and may have intentions on bumping up his record if he still holds it by the time the Shaw Classic comes along.
Super Yoke Carry – This is an event that was in the last Shaw Classic. The competitors will face off in heats. The objective is to take the yoke from start to finish, and back to the starting line again in the quickest time possible. Shaw shared that the weight of the yoke isn’t known at this time.
Bag Toss Over Bar – When discussing this event, Shaw gave some details about how this head-to-head event would work. “This is now part of the big Shaw Classic massive contraption that we will have as part of the arena. So this thing is going to be literally like 40 feet across, massive, built-up, and two athletes will be doing the Bag Toss head-to-head at the same time. So it’s going to be big enough for those two athletes.”
Car Squat for Reps – Day 1 will conclude with a squatting event for reps. The weight will be a car. The weight and the car type isn’t known as of yet. Shaw said that the appeal for a classic event like this was why it was included.
Max Hummer Tire Deadlift – The second day of competition will begin with a max deadlift. The Hummer Tire version was a favorite of the Arnold Strongman Classic, and Shaw added it last year to his contest. The highlight of that event was JF Caron lifting a world record setting 1,202 pounds.
Medley – The medley event for this contest will be a combination of a wheelbarrow push and a seated arm over arm pull. Shaw revealed that this event will also be a part of the “contraption” that he is having created for the contest in Colorado. This will be setup for two competitors to participate at the same time. Shaw thinks everyone involved will like this one. “I think that this event is going maybe one of the athletes’ favorite events. I feel like it will be a fan favorite event, and I am really, really pumped up to see that event come to life.”
Circus Dumbbell for Reps – This has been another event that has been popular in recent contests. 2020 World’s Strongest Man Oleksii Novikov has established dominance in this event recently. He completed 10 reps with 100kg (220 pounds) at the WUS Strength Island event in Bahrain.
Atlas Stones – This is one of Shaw’s signature events both as a competitor and now as a promoter. So it makes sense that this will be the grand finale of this year’s contest. Another competitor who is well versed with this event is Tom Stoltman, who will be in the lineup at this contest.
Featured Image: Brian Shaw on YouTube
