Hafthor Björnsson will turn 34 years old in November 2022, and he has already accomplished a lot in his athletic career. The former Game of Thrones star won the 2018 World’s Strongest Man (WSM) contest, three Arnold Strongman Classic titles, and he eclipsed Eddie Hall’s all-time deadlift world record by a single kilogram, pulling 501 kilograms (1,104 pounds) in May 2020.
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In recent years, he had also trained and competed in boxing, where he ultimately defeated Hall in their bout in March 2022. Björnsson had announced that he has decided to stop pursuing boxing and return to his original sport by preparing to break his Weight Over Bar record at the 2022 Rogue Invitational, set to take place on the weekend of Oct. 28-30 in Austin, TX.
Björnsson has shared more plans: he’s training to compete in powerlifting. He shared the news on his YouTube at the 7:30 mark of the video below on Oct. 22, 2022:
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Björnsson will compete in his own meet called the 2022 Thor’s Powerlifting Event on Dec. 3, 2022, in the raw division, meaning that he won’t wear a bench shirt or squat suit. He will only compete with a weight belt, wrist wraps, and knee sleeves or knee wraps. Björnsson explained that he wants to gauge how his body performs after so long away from heavy lifting. That said, he set a goal he’s confident he can hit.
I want to do 1,000 kilograms total.
This is not Björnsson’s first foray into powerlifting. He competed in four meets from 2010 to 2011. In December 2018, Björnsson organized “Thor’s Powerlifting Challenge,” in which he competed. His totals from that day are below.
- Squat — 440 Kilograms (970 Pounds)
- Bench Press — 250 Kilograms (551 Pounds)
- Deadlift — 410 Kilograms (903 Pounds)
- Total — 1,100 Kilograms (2,424 Pounds)
Based on those numbers, Björnsson’s goal should be reachable as long as he stays healthy. He’s already shown signs of returning to his original form when he posted a video of himself deadlifting 320 kilograms (705 pounds) for a double on Oct. 21, 2022. He also shared a clip of himself squatting 310 kilograms (683.5 pounds) for two reps on Oct. 18, 2022. We’ll see how much he can progress in the next seven weeks to his return to the platform.
Featured Image: @thorbjornsson on Instagram