Rayno Nel of South Africa is the 2025 World’s Strongest Man (WSM). He is the first South African to hoist the WSM championship above his head, and he beat two former WSM champions — Tom Stoltman and Mitchell Hooper, who ranked as the runner-up and bronze medalist, respectively — along the way.
Nel’s journey to the title in his WSM debut peaked at a seven-point lead with two events to go — but to win it all, he needed to rank top-three or better in the final event, the Atlas Stones, against Stoltman, arguably the greatest stone lifter to ever live.
However, it ultimately came down to an unexpected ring slip in Hooper’s Atlas Stone run that made the one-second difference Nel needed to stand atop the podium.
[2025 World’s Strongest Man Live Results & Leaderboard]
Entering the penultimate heat in the Atlas Stones, Hooper’s odds of scoring a second WSM title were slim. He needed a confluence of a winning time, a mistake by Stoltman, and a significant blunder by Nel.
During his run against 2025 WSM fourth-place finisher Trey Mitchell, Hooper sprinted to his first stone. After cleaning it, his left foot slipped on the ring that the stone initially sat on during the event’s preset. Atlas Stones sit on rings to prevent them from rolling and as a slight gap for athletes to get more leverage during the lift.
Never before in WSM’s history have the rings been glued down or otherwise made stable on the stage they sit. The rings incidentally sticking to the stones is not uncommon as the stones are loaded onto their pedestals, nor is it strange to see the rings fling off the stones when the athletes lift them.
However, this time, the ring of Hooper’s first stone flung off to just the right distance, at just the right trajectory, and landed in just the right position for his left foot to catch it right before he could load the stone on its pedestal.
That convergence of minute, seemingly innocuous series of possibilities concluded with Hooper dropping his first stone, therefore having to relift it. The time it took Hooper to do that was the difference that ranked Nel’s time in third overall in the event, exactly the minimum needed for Nel to outrank Tom Stoltman by a half-point on the overall leaderboard. For reference, here were their Atlas Stone results:
- Tom Stoltman — Five stones in 31.76 seconds
- Trey Mitchell — Five stones in 41.08 seconds
- Rayno Nel — Four stones in 30.17 seconds
- Mitchell Hooper — Four stones in 31.02 seconds
More specifically:
- Rayno Nel — Four stones in 30.17 seconds
- Mitchell Hooper — Four stones in 31.02 seconds
…0.85 seconds...
Of course, a multitude of factors led to Nel winning the WSM title. Had any of them been even the slightest bit different, the podium could have been butterfly-affected in a way that makes this article moot.
For example:
- Had Tom Stoltman stabilized his footing during his final Flintstone press after locking out the weight, or had head judge Magnus ver Magnusson been slightly more lenient to award the down command…
- Or if Tom Stoltman hung onto his Hercules Hold for 0.63 seconds longer than his older brother, Luke…
- Or if Tom hadn’t gotten dizzy during the Stone Medley during the Qualifying Stage to enter the WSM Final two points ahead of Nel instead of one…
The list goes on and on. But when it was time for the Atlas Stones and all the athletes knew what they needed to do, the ring of Hooper’s first Atlas Stone was the speed bump that etched Rayno Nel’s name in the WSM history books.
More Strongman History
- Jesse Marunde: Remembering One of Strongman’s Phenoms
- Mark Philippi Brings a Legacy of Strength to the Chicago Bears
- The Legend of O.D. Wilson — the Uncrowned World’s Strongest Man
Featured image courtesy of World’s Strongest Man/Rich Storry
