The 2022 strongman season is upon us. The 2022 Força Bruta competition will take place on Feb. 13, 2022, in Cotia, Brazil. The single-day event will feature just four athletes competing in three events. The roster is as follows:
2022 Força Bruta Roster
- JF Caron (Canada)
- Rob Kearney (USA)
- Rauno Heinla (Estonia)
- Dmitrii Skosyrskii (Russia)
The contest will feature a deadlift for reps event with a time cap of 90 seconds, a 10-implement keg toss — weights ranging from 18 to 26 kilograms — over a five-meter bar, and an 8,000-kilogram (17,637-pound) truck pull for 15 meters.
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2022 Força Bruta Strongman Contest
The 2022 Força Bruta strongman contest will burnish a new champion in the contest’s nine-year history. According to Strongman Archives, the two-time reigning champion is Russia’s Mikhail Shivlyakov, who defeated Heinla, Cristian Quiroga of Bolivia, and Tiago Aparecido of Brazil in 2021. Though Shivlyakov will not defend his crown, he will be in Cotia to cheer on his training partner, Skosyrskii, the 2020 Arnold Amateur Strongman World Championships runner-up. In 2020, Shivlyakov bested two-time World’s Strongest Man (WSM) runner-up Mateusz Kieliszkowski, USA’s Jerry Pritchett, and Great Britain’s Terry Hollands.
Although 2016 Europe’s Strongest Man Laurence Shahlaei referred to this contest as more of an “exhibition” due to the small roster and limited events, many of the sport’s biggest names have competed in it. Four-time WSM champion Brian Shaw won the contest in 2013, 2015, and 2016, defeating 2018 WSM champion Hafthor Björnsson, Mark Felix, and four-time WSM champion Žydrūnas Savickas along the way.
Speaking of Savickas, he stood atop the Força Bruta in 2014. Kieliszkowski captured the title in 2017, and Hollands claimed it in 2019. Suffice to say, the competition’s winner’s circle is loaded with many of the sport’s elite.
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According to Shahlaei, the 2022 Força Bruta contest will be available to watch on the Brazilian sports channel Esporte Espectacular and their YouTube channel. We’ll see how Caron and Kearney perform in Brazil, competing in three events that don’t crossover with the events of the 2022 Arnold Strongman Classic in Columbus, OH, where they are both scheduled to compete on March 4-5, 2022.
Featured image: @ervin_katona on Instagram
