Tom Stoltman is the 2022 World’s Strongest Man (WSM) champion. He is the first strongman to win back-to-back WSM titles since Brian Shaw won his fourth WSM title in 2016, and the 10th strongman to win multiple WSM titles. Stoltman’s path to the top of the podium only saw him win one event in the Final, but he never ranked worse than third across the six events.
Stoltman emerged victorious in the Qualifying stage by winning five straight events in Group 1 to clinch his spot in the Finals without needing to make a legitimate attempt in the Wrecking Ball Hold.
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[Related: 2022 World’s Strongest Man Results and Leaderboard]
Tom Stoltman’s WSM Performance
For the first day of the Finals, Stoltman was not the story, despite being the reigning champion and posting excellent finishes. Oleksii Novikov claimed most of the limelight with wins in the Deadlift and the Flintstone Barbell, the latter of which he set a world record of 542 pounds. Novikov scored 28 of a possible 30 points on day one of the Finals to hold a 1.5-point lead over Stoltman heading into the final day.
Novikov held his lead after the Bus Pull on the last day of competition with his third event win. Stoltman stayed in the mix with a third-place finish but was 3.5 points behind Novikov with two events to go.
The Reign Total Body Fuel Power Stairs event proved to be the most significant shift in the competition as Novikov could not overcome the combination of clunky implements and tall stairs. A seventh-place rank by the Ukrainian and a second-place rank by Stoltman gave the Scotsman a 1.5-point lead heading into Stoltman’s best event — the Atlas Stones.
Knowing that he needed to finish in second place or better in the Atlas Stones — his signature event — to clinch the WSM title for the second straight year, Stoltman posted an event-winning time of 25.76 seconds. Stoltman’s consistency through the Final culminated in his second world title, and the Stoltman dynasty has begun.
Stoltman is the first Scotsman to win the WSM title, and has captured his second title at 27 years old.
Featured image courtesy of Joe Martinez/World’s Strongest Man
