The 2020 World’s Strongest Man (WSM) competition kicks off on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020, in Bradenton, FL, with the qualifying group stages. The qualifying stage consists of five groups of five strongmen each, with the top two athletes in each group advancing to the Finals, which will take place from Nov. 14-15, 2020.
Here is the breakdown of which strongmen are in which group in the qualifying stage. These groups were confirmed in the “World’s Strongest Man: Live from Bradenton” broadcast on the afternoon of November 10th.
Group One
- Luke Richardson — Great Britain
- Robert Oberst — United States
- Gabriel Pena — Mexico
- Patrick O’Dwyer — Ireland
- Jerry Pritchett — United States
Group Two
- Adam Bishop — Great Britain
- Evan Singleton — United States
- Mikhail Shivlyakov — Russia
- Kevin Faires — United States
- Mark Felix — Great Britain
View this post on Instagram
Group Three
- Tom Stoltman — Great Britain
- Oleski Novikov — Ukraine
- Charles “Trey” Mitchell III — United States
- Gavin Bilton — Great Britain
- Maxime Boudreault — Canada
Group Four
- JF Caron — Canada
- Graham Hicks — Great Britain
- Ervin Toots — Estonia
- Eythor Ingolfsson Melsted — Iceland
- Bobby Thompson — United States
Group Five
- Brian Shaw — United States
- Luke Stoltman — Great Britain
- Aivars Smaukstelis — Latvia
- Terry Hollands — Great Britain
- Nick Best — United States
Across all the athletes competing in the 2020 WSM qualifying stage, ten different countries are represented. The most represented countries are the United States and Great Britain, with eight athletes each.
The man with the most points in each of the five groups after four events and two days of competition will secure their place in the WSM Finals. Those who land in fourth and fifth place in each group are eliminated from the competition. The strongmen in second and third place in each group will battle head-to-head in a last-man-standing Stone Off, where each pair of athletes will go back and forth lifting the same Atlas Stone over a nearly six-foot bar. The first competitor who is unable to lift the stone over the bar first is eliminated.
There will then be one day of rest on Friday, Nov. 13, 2020, before the Finals take place the following Saturday and Sunday. Stay tuned for more 2020 WSM coverage from BarBend throughout the week.
Featured image: @theworldsstrongestman on Instagram
