The 2025 Shaw Classic featuring the 2025 Strongest Man on Earth (SMOE) contest will be held on Aug. 15-17, 2025, in Loveland, CO. The show’s namesake promoter, four-time World’s Strongest Man (WSM) Brian Shaw, shared additional details on Jan. 10, 2025, including the strongmen invited to compete.
Shaw Classic
The Shaw Classic Open competitions for male and female athletes will return in 2025. The qualifier contests will be held on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, featuring three yet-to-be-revealed events — they will be officially announced on April 3, 2025. The top 10 male and top 10 female athletes will advance to compete in the Open competition on Saturday and Sunday. The qualifier events will be officially announced on April 3, 2025.
The top 10 from each class in 2024 will receive priority sign-up for the 2025 competition.
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Shaw Classic Expo
The Shaw Classic Expo, which features vendors, events, athlete and fan interaction, food trucks, and more, will also return in 2025 and be free to the public. Prospective vendors who endeavor to have a booth at the Expo can inquire via https://thestrongestmanonearth.com/.
Arm Wrestling
Since Shaw has ventured into competitive arm wrestling, the Shaw Classic will feature arm wrestling competition, though Shaw and his team are “still working through the details.” The likelihood is a “big tournament” and a “super match format event.”
Strongest Man on Earth Competitor Selection
Shaw aims to have the 16 strongest athletes on earth compete. Shaw automatically invites the previous year’s top five, which are 2024’s champion Mitchell Hooper, runner-up Hafthor Björnsson, bronze medalist Lucas Hatton, fourth-place finisher Trey Mitchell, and Austin Andrade, who ranked fifth.
The next invites are the top three athletes from the previous year’s Rogue Strongman Invitational (RSI), Arnold Strongman Classic (ASC), and World’s Strongest Man (WSM). Hooper and Björnsson ranked first and second at the RSI, and Tom Stoltman ranked third and received an SMOE invite.
Shaw explained that SMOE invitations do not “bump down” to the next athletes if there is podium crossover. For example, the fourth and fifth-place finishers from the 2024 RSI don’t receive invitations just because the podium shares competitors from the 2024 SMOE.
The 2024 North America’s Strongest Man champion, programmed by strongman great JF Caron, also receives an invite: Maxime Boudreault. The 2024 Shaw Classic Open winner also receives an invite: Josh Spurgeon.
2025 Strongest Man on Earth Invitees
- Mitchell Hooper
- Hafthor Björnsson
- Lucas Hatton
- Trey Mitchell
- Austin Andrade
- Tom Stoltman
- Evan Singleton
- Maxime Boudreault
- Josh Spurgeon
Shaw expressed consideration for athletes who performed well at other elite contests, including the Magnus Ver Magnusson Strongman Classic, to fill out the rest of the invitation list. At the time of this article’s publication, none of the invited athletes have yet confirmed their spot on the roster.
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Featured image: @theshawclassic on Instagram
