At the 2022 Giants Live World Tour Finals held in the OVO Hydro Arena in Glasgow, Scotland, on Oct. 8, 2022, Mitchell Hooper scored his first career Giants Live contest victory. En route to standing atop the podium, Hooper was one of four men to set world records in the Nicol Stones event.
The Nicol Stones weighed 114 kilograms and 139 kilograms. The record coming into the event was held by Kevin Faires — 22.2 meters at this same event in 2021. In order, Paul Smith, Andy Black, Hooper, and Faires bested the previous world record. Here is how each of the four athletes ultimately scored:
2022 Giants Live World Tour Finals — Nicol Stones
- Paul Smith — 23.10 meters
- Andy Black — 24.08 meters
- Mitchell Hooper — 24.14 meters
- Kevin Faires — 24.61 meters — New World Record
Check out all four Nicol Stone runs in the video below, courtesy of Giants Live STRONGMAN’s YouTube channel:
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Smith set the momentum for the event, as is usually the case with eclipsing a previous world record — once the athletes know it’s possible, the adrenaline can often help them get there.
Smith’s run cleared Faires’s record by under a meter, but did not last very long. Black took to the floor and cleared the first length of the course without putting either of the stones down. Upon his turn, he dropped the stones just shy of the world record and then used his second attempt to clear the indicators to claim the world record for himself.
Black would experience the same fate as Smith. Hooper, known for his efficient movement, also made the turn with the stones in-hand after walking a full length. Rather than clear the line, he extended one foot to the line to get the “clear” signal from the referee so he could turn around.
It was a move that saved him from having to take an additional step, and that was the difference in distance between Black’s run and Hooper’s new world record.
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Not to be shown up by his fellow strongmen, Faires took to the floor and proved his prowess in the event. He eclipsed his previous record by 2.41 meters and Hooper’s then record by nearly half a meter.
While it seems like any of these strongmen could return and reclaim the Nicol Stones world record again, for now, Faires remains the best Nicol Stone strongman in the game.
Featured image: @giantslivestrongman on Instagram
