The first day of the qualifying rounds for the 2019 World’s Strongest Man competition has come to a close, with a few surprises.
For those unaware, these first three days of the strongman competition (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday) are for the qualifying rounds, with the final events taking place on Sunday. There are five groups of five athletes who all get a shot at the qualifying rounds, with two events on both Thursday and Friday and one on Saturday.
World’s Strongest Man Event 1 and Event 2 Winners
These are the events from today and their winners, according to our friends at Starting Strongman:
Event 1: Monster Truck Pull (roughly 22 meters)
Group 1 Winner: Hafthor Bjornsson, 34.36 seconds
Group 2 Winner: Konstantine Janashia, 50.41 seconds (some reports are 50.54 seconds)
Group 3 Winner: Eddie Williams, 41.11 seconds
Group 4 Winner: Mateusz Kieliszkowski 38.63 seconds
Group 5 Winner: Brian Shaw, 38.69 seconds
Event 2: Super Yoke & Farmer’s Walk Medley
168kg farmer’s walk for 15 meters, 450kg yoke for 6 meters, 595kg yoke for 2.5 meters. There are reports that the weights were heavier for Group 1, so it’s tough to compare.
Group 1 Winner: Rob Kearney, 34.06 seconds
Group 2 Winner:Adam Bishop, 27.6 seconds
Group 3 Winner: Martins Licis, 21.09 seconds
Group 4 Winner:Mateusz Kieliszkowski, 18.89 seconds
Group 5 Winner: Oleksii Novikov, around 25 seconds
World’s Strongest Man Points Total
Here’s where the points currently stand. Note that all of this is unofficial and taken from renowned strongman fan Kalle Beck at Starting Strongman.
Group 1
Hafthor Julius Bjornsson (Iceland) – 7 points
Raffael Gordzielik (Germany) – 7 points
Luke Stoltman (Great Britain) – 7 points
Rob Kearney (USA) – 6 points
Zake Muluzi (Great Britain) – 2 points
Group 2
Konstantine Janashia (Georgia) – 8 points
Adam Bishop (Great Britain) – 6 points
Robert Oberst (USA) – 5 points
Andreas Stahlberg (Sweden) – 5 points
Sigfus Fossdal (Iceland) – 1 point (retired)
Group 3
Martins Licis (USA) – 9 points
Aivars Smaukstelis (Latvia) – 6 points
Tom Stoltman (Great Britain) – 6 points
Eddie Williams (Australia) – 6 points
Mikhail Shivlyakov (Russia) – 3 points
Group 4
Mateusz Kieliszkowski (Poland) – 10 points
Jean-François Caron (Canada) – 8 points
Kevin Faires (USA) – 6 points
Ole Martin Kristiansen (Norway) – 3 points
Laurence Shahlaei (Great Britain) – 3 points
Group 5
Oleksii Novikov (Ukraine) – 9 points
Brian Shaw (USA) – 9 points
Trey Mitchell (USA) – 5 points
Gerhard van Staden (South Africa) – 4 points
Mark Felix (Great Britain) – 3 points
Naturally, there’s no official footage until the competition airs on CBS on June 30th. Here’s our complete guide to watching the 2019 World’s Strongest Man competition.
However, it appears that Thor Bjornsson may be a little worse for wear. Take a look at this video of The Mountain competing against Rob Kearney in the Farmer’s Walk/Yoke Medley event.
In the transition from the farmer’s walk to the yoke, Bjornsson appears to be limping and goes on to drop his weight during the yoke, making an easy win for Kearney.
Rumors have been flying that he dropped the farmer’s implement on his foot, but his trainer Sebastian Oreb denied this one. Strongman promoter Julian Howard has posted on social media that he tore his plantar fascia, but nothing official has been posted yet. Sources at World’s Strongest Man have told us that an announcement will be made on Friday.
Meanwhile, fellow Icelander Sigfus Fossdal withdrew from the competition after reportedly tearing his right Achilles tendon. There are also rumors that Laurence Shahlahei experienced an injury as well
On Friday there are events 3 and 4, Deadlift for reps and Overhead Press for reps. We’re looking forward to seeing how it shakes out.
Related: Can Hafthor repeat in 2019?
Featured image via @shawstrength and @roguefitness
