Europe’s Strongest Man is one of the few titles in the sport that Eddie Hall has yet to win, but 2018 won’t be the year he does it.
In a lengthy video he posted to his Facebook, the reigning World’s Strongest Man™ announced that last week he rolled his ankle on a bulky doormat and he’s “99 percent” sure he tore some ligaments. He can’t really walk — which is why the 226kg log press he recently made was performed seated — and he’s officially pulling out of Europe’s Strongest Man. We’ve embedded the video below.
The good news is that he’s going to compete in the log lift only event and he’s positive that he’s going to set a new world record in the lift. The record is currently held by Zydrunas “Big Z” Savickas, who made a 228-kilogram lift in 2015. Hall says in the video:
“I’ve always been very envious of Big Z for having that log press world record because it’s f*cking hard. You know, the log press is one of the hardest events to master and he’s got it to a T. His technique’s perfect, his body shape is perfect for it, I’ve always been envious as to how he does that. Of course, he’s amazingly strong.
I just need it. I need it in my life. I need it to sort of round up all these world records and world’s strongest man title to complete my package before I quit strongman, basically.”
Hall has said before that he plans to quit strongman in 2019.
[Read our interview with Eddie Hall on life after strongman here.]
Even if Hall does lift more than the current world record, that may not mean he’ll walk out of the event with the heaviest log lift of all time. Zydrunas Savickas posted a video last week of himself beating his own record in the lift, though he wouldn’t say how much it weighed.
He added in an Instagram comment that he plans to lift 235 kilograms at Europe’s Strongest Man on April 7th, in which case Hall would need to absolutely shatter the current world record in order to walk out with the new one.
This would have been the first time Savickas, Hall, and Hafthor Bjornsson were all been competing for the ESM title. Hall says he’s still got his eye on Britain’s Strongest Man 2019.
Featured image via @eddiehallwsm on Instagram.