Europe's Strongest Man 2021 | Reportage

On September 4, the competition for the best strongman in Europe took place in Leeds, England. One of the favourites of this race was Tom Stoltman, a Scotsman who became the best strongman in the world this year. However, he was unable to take part in the race because he tested positive for Covid-19 just before the race. Let's take a look at the whole course of these races and see who ended up being the best strongman in Europe for 2021.

Max Log Lift

The first discipline that started at the Leeds competition was log lifting. However, two strongmen shared the top spot, namely Luke Stoltman and Graham Hicks, both lifting 195kg. In third place was the world's strongest man for 2020, Oleksii Novikov.

Shield Carry

In the second discipline the strongmen had to carry a shield weighing 200kg for the longest possible distance. Marius Lalas was the best at this, managing to carry the shield for a distance of 54.2m. In second place was Luke Stoltman, who reached a distance of 42.2m and third in this discipline was Ervin Toots, who finished at a distance of 37.7m.

Axle Deadlift

The third discipline was to test the competitors in the deadlift. 360kg was applied to the axel and the goal of the strongmen was to produce the highest number of reps. This was best done by Raun Heinl who produced 9 valid attempts. Hicks finished second with eight reps and Lalas, Novikov and Pa O'Dwyer shared third place with six notches.

Car Walk

In the penultimate discipline, the competitors had to carry a Volkswagen Beetle (450kg) over a distance of 20m. Novikov was the fastest with a time of 11.18 seconds, with Stoltman in second place with a time of 13.59 seconds. Third place then went to O'Dwyer, whose time was just over 16 seconds.

Castle Stones

The last event to decide the strongest man in Europe was the lifting of the stones. This was won by the same man as the car walk - Novikov with a time of 18.74 seconds. Second, but retaining the overall lead, was Stoltman and third place went to Heinla.

Overall results

Although the strongest European was expected to be Tom Stoltman of Scotland, it was his older brother Luke. Second place went to Ukraine's Oleksii Novikov, the World's Strongest Man for 2020, and third place went to Britain's Graham Hicks.