On April 23, 2022, World’s Strongest Man announced that Rauno Heinla has withdrawn from the 2022 contest, scheduled to take place the week of May 24-29 in Sacramento, CA. The announcement was made on their Instagram feed.
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No reason was given for the Estonian strongman’s withdrawal, and Heinla has not made a statement as of this writing. Heinla’s last competition was the 2022 Europe’s Strongest Man contest, where he placed 12th. (Oleksii Novikov won that contest.)
Less than two hours later, the WSM announced Mitchell Hooper of Canada as Heinla’s replacement.
About Mitchell Hooper
According to his website, “The Moose” is 26 years old. He made his initial impact on the sport of strongman by deadlifting 475 kilograms (1,047 pounds) weighing less than 140 kilograms. In 2021, he placed first in the Static Monsters Worldwide contest, and he set a world record by totaling 665 kilograms (1,466 pounds). That total was made possible by log-pressing 200 kilograms (440 pounds) and lifting 465 kilograms (1,025 pounds) in the Axle deadlift.
This will Hooper’s his first World’s Strongest Man contest. Aside from sharing the post confirming his entry into the contest, he had yet to make a public statement on being added to the field, which includes current champion Tom Stoltman, Novikov, who won in 2020, 2019 champion Martins Licis, and four-time World’s Strongest Man winner Brian Shaw.
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Before this announcement, Hooper was preparing for the 2022 Giants Live World Open and World Deadlift Championship, scheduled for Aug. 5-6 in Wales. He said on his website that he wants to be the third man to deadlift 500 kilograms, following Eddie Hall’s footsteps, who did it first in 2016, and Hafthor Björnsson, who pulled 501 kilograms in May of 2020.
With Heinla’s removal and Hooper’s entry, the updated 2022 WSM lineup is below.
Updated 2022 WSM Roster
- Pavlo Kordiyaka (Ukraine)
- Rob Kearney (USA)
- Gabriel Peña (Mexico)
- Kelvin de Ruiter (Netherlands)
- Kim Ujarak (Greenland)
- Maxime Boudreault (Canada)
- Mark Felix (UK)
- Pa O’Dwyer (Ireland)
- Shane Flowers (UK)
- Jean-Stephen Coraboeuf (Australia)
- Bobby Thompson (USA)
- Aivars Smaukstelis (Latvia)
- Adam Bishop (UK)
- Evan Singleton (USA)
- Eythor Ingolfsson Melsted (Iceland)
- Konstantine Janashia (Georgia)
- Trey Mitchell (USA)
- Mika Törrö (Finland)
- Peiman Maheripourehir (Iran)
- Luke Stoltman (UK)
- Brian Shaw (USA)
- Tom Stoltman (UK) — Reigning WSM Champion
- Gabriel Rheaume (Canada)
- Martins Licis (USA)
- Gavin Bilton (UK)
- Oleksii Novikov (Ukraine)
- Kevin Faires (USA)
- Nedžmin Ambešković (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
- Grzegorz Szymanski
- Mitchell Hooper (Canada)
Featured Image: @rauno_heinla on Instagram