The 2025 Europe’s Strongest Man (ESM) contest took place on April 5 in Leeds, England. It was won by Luke Richardson, who recaptured the title he previously won in 2020.
Luke Stoltman was the defending champion entering the 2025 edition. However, Stoltman failed to finish the competition, withdrawing after the third of five events. On April 9, Stoltman shared behind-the-scenes footage from the competition, which unveiled what caused his withdrawal — a bout with the flu.
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Stoltman is notorious for his strength in overhead events, particularly the log press, in which he holds the British record. In Leeds, his fourth-place rank in the log press led to heads turning — something seemed off.
The footage showed Stoltman huffing heavily backstage between events, trying to drink fluids while his younger brother Tom, a three-time World’s Strongest Man (WSM) champion, fanned him down.
After getting his vitals checked between events, a staff member revealed that Stoltman had vomited four times already that day.
Stoltman was questioned by medical personnel before withdrawing from the contest. He was heard relaying that he had dropped from 153 kilograms (337 pounds) to 145 kilograms (319 pounds) due to his inability to keep food down.
In an Instagram post following the contest, Stoltman wrote:
“Not the way I’d planned to defend my Europe’s Strongest Man title in Leeds at the weekend. Training had been going amazing, but I picked up what seemed like a nothing bug — thought I could shake it off. But at this level, you’ve got to be 100%, and after the first event, I knew I wasn’t there. Gutted not to have been able to battle for the title again after such a good prep, but that’s life sometimes!”
Onward
Stoltman will compete next at the 2025 WSM contest, which will be held May 15-18, 2025, in Sacramento, CA. He ranked ninth overall at the 2024 WSM contest.
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Featured image: @luke.stoltman on Instagram
