The opening day of the 2022 World’s Strongest Man (WSM) contest saw several competitors sustain what appeared to be injuries. Then, before the start of the second even, WSM officials announced on Instagram that American strongman Evan Singleton was withdrawing from the competition. Hours later, WSM posted about Singleton’s status once again — this time, to announce that Singleton was cleared to continue competing after further medical evaluation.
At the time his initial withdrawal was announced, the nature of his injuries was unspecified. However, soon after WSM’s announcement that he was back in, Singleton took to his own Instagram to clarify the nature of his medical difficulties during the competition. Singleton explained in his caption:
[B]efore the loading medley started I started going into [a]naphylactic shock and my throat was closing to the point I could not breathe.
After an ambulance brought him to the hospital, Singleton reported undergoing extensive testing, including stress tests, EKGs, and CAT scans. He said in his video that while he’s not certain what caused his body to go into shock, he could return to the WSM for day two.
The most important news is that I have been cleared by the entire [WSM] staff and medical to continue to compete.
You can check out Singleton’s post for yourself here:
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Singleton did miss the Deadlift Ladder, so he has to make up enough points to place third in his Group — Group 5 — and then win in the Stone-Off. At the time this article was written, Singleton had two points and is sixth place behind Kim Ujarak Lorentzen (5 points), Kelvin De Ruiter (7), Eythor Ingolfsson Melsted (7), Jean-Stephen Coraboeuf (8), and Luke Stoltman (12).
Injuries at the 2022 WSM
According to BarBend‘s reporter in Sacramento, Chilean strongman Manuel Angulo , and UK strongman Shane Flowers looked hurt during and after the first event of the week, the Loading Race. To be clear: Both men are still competing at the time this article was published.
Angulo started limping on his right leg, which was wrapped heavily, by the time he started loading his fourth implement. After he failed to load all five of his implements by the time cap, medical came to help him off the field of play. He continued to compete throughout the day, where he managed to pull three reps in the Deadlift Ladder.
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During his run in the Loading Race, Flowers was performing well until he dropped the last sandbag at the platform, which seemed to injure his left leg. He competed in the next event, the Deadlift Ladder, with a limp that seemed to get even more severe between reps. Flowers was later seen with a cast on his foot. As of this writing, neither Flowers or Angulo have withdrawn.
How to Watch the 2022 WSM
Singleton will be back to compete in day two of the WSM, which will feature the Car Walk at 8:00 a.m. PST and the Log Lift at 12:30 p.m. PST.
Day three will have competitors facing the Wrecking Ball Hold at 8:00 a.m. PST and the Stone-Off at 1:30 p.m. PST. In that event, the second and third-ranked strongmen in each of the five groups will face off head-to-head to qualify for the 2022 WSM Final, which is slated for May 28-29, 2022.
You can keep updated on all of these events by tuning into our Leaderboard and Results page.
Featured Image: @evan_trex_strongman / Instagram
