The 2023 World’s Strongest Man (WSM) contest is scheduled for April 19-23, 2023, in Myrtle Beach, SC. On Jan. 26, 2023, WSM announced the 12 events that will be featured at the 2023 contest. Six events will be held in the Qualifying stage, and the remaining six will comprise the Final.
2023 World’s Strongest Man Events
Below are the events and the days of the competition they will be held on:
Qualifying Stage
- Event One | Loading Race — Day One
- Event Two | Deadlift Machine — Day One
- Event Three | Log Ladder — Day One
- Event Four | Conan’s Wheel — Day Two
- Event Five | Kettlebell Toss — Day Two
- Stone Off — Day Two
WSM Final
- Event One | Fingal’s Fingers — Day Three
- Event Two | Deadlift — Day Three
- Event Three | Shield Carry — Day Three
- Event Four | Max Dumbbell — Day Four
- Event Five | Vehicle Pull — Day Four
- Event Six | Atlas Stones — Day Four
The 2023 WSM contest was initially set to begin on April 18, 2023, but it was announced on Jan. 26 that it would start one day later.
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Pushing the start of the competition back by a day would be a significant change for the athletes if it altered the structure of the competition, which is two days of Qualifying, followed by a rest day, and then two days of the Final. WSM confirmed to BarBend that athletes will receive a rest day between Qualifying and the Final — a much-needed break for the athletes who battle in the Stone Off at the end of day two.
Presumably, the structure of the Stone Off will remain the same as in 2022, where the second and third-place finishers in each Group will square up in a head-to-head match. If that is how the competition is structured, then the winners of each Group could have a meaningful advantage heading into the Final as they will not have to exert themselves in the Stone Off.
The 2023 contest marks the end of an era in the sport, as it will be four-time WSM champion Brian Shaw’s last WSM contest. If he can reclaim the crown from two-time reigning WSM champion Tom Stoltman, Shaw would become the second strongman in the sport’s history to win five WSM contests — a feat only Mariusz Pudzianowski of Poland has accomplished.
Editor’s note: This article previously mentioned that the athletes would not have a rest day due to the schedule shift of the competition moving back one day. This has since been corrected and confirmed by WSM that the 2023 WSM Finalists will have a rest day after the Qualifying stage is complete.