Editor’s note: This article contains spoilers. If you want to avoid all spoilers and just view episode air times, just read the info under the header, “2020 World’s Strongest Man Episode Air Times.”
The 2020 World’s Strongest Man (WSM) competition is in the books. It took place on Nov. 11-15, 2020, in Bradenton, FL and — SPOILER ALERT — saw the youngest champion ever in Oleksii Novikov at 24 years of age (tied with Jón Páll Sigmarsson). He emerged victorious over several WSM mainstays like JF Caron, who posted his best finish to date (third), and other young strongmen still early in their strongmen careers, such as Tom Stoltman — who finished second.
The only coverage of WSM offered were event recaps and results via WSM’s Facebook Live stream hosted by Nick English. Full event footage wasn’t shown. However, the entire competition was filmed to be aired in weekly episodes on CBS Sports and Television Network starting on Dec. 4, 2020. Those details have finally been released.
2020 World’s Strongest Man Episode Air Times
There will be five episodes airing over the four weeks in December. They will cover both the qualifying stage and the Finals of the competition. Here are the scheduled airing dates (all times are in EST):
- Friday, Dec. 4, 2020 — 7-8 p.m. on CBS Sports Network
- Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020 — 8-9 p.m. on CBS Sports Network
- Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020 — 9-10 p.m. on CBS Sports Network
- Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020 — 9-10 p.m. on CBS Sports Network
- Saturday, Dec. 26, 2020 — 3-5 p.m. on CBS Television Network
The 2020 WSM featured a roster of 25 strongmen. The qualifying stage consisted of five groups, and only 10 strongmen made the Finals — the winner of each group, and whoever won an Atlas Stone head-to-head between the second-and third-place finishers in each group.
View this post on Instagram
[Related: All Of The Events For The 2020 World’s Strongest Man]
Disruptions and Drop Outs
The 2020 WSM competition had a rollercoaster year. Originally, the event was scheduled for May 20-24, 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, in the time between the postponement and the new dates of Nov. 11-15, 2020, several top strongmen dropped out of the event:
- Martins Licis, 2019 WSM champion — injured (car accident).
- Mateusz Kieliszkowski, 2018 and 2019 WSM runner-up — injured (triceps).
- Konstantine Janashia, fourth place at 2016 WSM — tested positive for COVID-19.
- Hafthor Bjornsson, 2018 WSM champion — retired.
Once the competition was ready to begin, event organizers had to cancel day one of the contest due to inclement weather. And once the competition was underway, the competition was riddled with injuries:
- Ervin Toots, injured (quad) — withdrew in the qualifying stage.
- Gabriel Pena, injured (heart issues) — withdrew in the qualifying stage.
- Evan Singleton, injured (biceps) — withdrew in the qualifying stage.
- Graham Hicks, injured (biceps) — withdrew from Finals.
Four-time WSM champion Brian Shaw was the only strongman competing in the event that had previously won the title. He ended up placing fifth overall.
[Related: World’s Strongest Man Athletes Reveal Their Strongman GOAT Picks]
The 2020 WSM competition had many epic moments, including a WSM partial deadlift record. Mark your calendars to tune in to all the 2020 WSM coverage.
Features image: @theworldsstrongestman on Instagram
