Europe's Strongest Man 2025 dominated by Luke Richardson | Results and reportage

On Saturday, April 5, a total of 12 fighters gathered in Leeds, UK, to measure their strength and see who would be the strongest European for this year. In addition to them, around ten thousand spectators were also at the same place, hungry for sensational performances and great entertainment.

Among the competitors there was also a Czech iron in the fire. Will Ondra Fojtů improve on his fourth place from last year? Or will he get worse? How will last year's champion Luke Stoltman fare? Or the previous year's Pavlo Koridiyaka? Find out in the following report.

The competition was British standard, i.e. 5 disciplines indoors.

• Overhead Medley
• Shield Carry
• Carry and Drag
• Deadlift
• Atlas Stones

Well, I'm not gonna take too long and jump right into the race.

Overhead Medley

A multi-part discipline, we can guess by the word Overhead that all the objects were lifted overhead. The competitors had to lift the following objects overhead in two repetitions: 90 kg one-handed bar followed by 150 kg safe, then 150 kg axle, i.e. thick axle and 150 kg log. They had a limit of 75 seconds for everything. I can say right now that just listing the heavy loads takes me a similar amount of time as the limit.

Only three riders made it through the entire event. Third place, Luke Richardson, all in 66.1 seconds. Second place went to Ondra Fojtů with a time of 64.96 seconds. Mateusz Kieliszkowski, who is known for his dynamism, won the discipline with his speed. His time was 62.09 seconds. So all the times were quite even and it was a fight for every hundredth.

Shield Carry

Very simple rules this time. The competitor takes a 200 kg shield in his arms and goes as far as possible along the designated course. If he reaches the end of the route, he turns around and keeps going. The metres are added up. Whoever goes the furthest without dropping the shield wins. If he drops it, the distance is measured.

If anyone has carried a heavy object in their arms in the past, they know that after a few metres you run out of breath, so to speak, because to hold the object you press it against your chest, if you do that it's really hard to breathe. Of course, you totally blow your hands off. And 200 kg is a weight that no one can get off the ground... Third place Mateusz Kieliszkowski 56.82 meters. Second place, Pavlo Kordiyaka, who reached 61.84 meters. However, Paddy Haynes, the home fighter, managed a fantastic 89.99 meters and won the discipline with ease. Ondra took 6th place with 49.44 metres.

Carry and Drag

Carry and drag. I can't think of any other translation. The competitors were tasked with carrying a 125 kg anvil on a 20 meter course, then dragging a 350 kg chain along the same route back to the start. Just a reminder, after carrying the shield for the distance, things get really hard to carry...

The chain hauling is definitely a lighter affair, but definitely not light. Bronze went to Ondra Fojtů 25.08 seconds, a great performance. Mateusz Kieliszkowski and Luke Richardson won the first place, both with the same time of 22.58 seconds.

Deadlift

Deadlift, this time performed on a fat axle axle weighing 350 kg. The competitors had only a one minute limit for the maximum number of repetitions. Did anyone have any strength left for the second half? Not much for Luke Stolman, he didn't enter the last 2 events, so hopefully he'll be ok for World's Strongest Man 2025, it would be a shame to miss out on participating.

Even more so when Tom, his 10 years younger brother has a chance to match the number of titles with greats like Zydrunas Savickas or Brian Shaw, Magnus Ver Magnusson or the great Jon Pall Sigmarsson. But back to the deadlifts, a great third place was taken by Ondrej Fojtů with six reps, a split first place with eight reps went to Paddy Haynes and the great deadlifter Rauno Heinla, whose only weakness is his age, otherwise I think he would have struggled that much more.

Atlas Stones

I'm going to repeat myself, the final royal disicpline, 60 second limit and 5 round concrete balls - Atlas Stones weighing 120kg - 200kg. A standard ending to most of these races. The spectators were ecstatic, the roar was everywhere, not only in the hall. All five stones were managed by only 3 best fighters. Third place Rauno Heinla, matador from Estonia 22,44 seconds was enough for him to unload all the stones. Second place Paddy Haynes, was a few hundredths faster at 26.34 seconds. Luke Richadson won the discipline with a time of 25.96 seconds. Luke did well all race. Ondra Fojtů placed fifth, managing only 4 stones in a time of 18.88.

Results

I may have already given it away Luke Richardson, a local strongman who has definitely been one of the top performers up to this point, but he's kind of always played up to chaperone here. This time though he shone and managed to collect a fantastic 51 points, which was comfortably enough to take the win and the title of Europe's Strongest Man for 2025. Second place went to Paddy Haynes, also a local fighter, who did a great job. He collected 47.5 points and defended his silver place.

The bronze medal goes to Mateusz Kieliszkowski from Poland, who was definitely thinking higher, but still got a great third place with a score that stopped at 46.5 points. I'll be sure to mention Ondra, who, just like last year, takes home the potato medal with a total of 46 points. That's only half a point out of third and 1.5 points out of second place. Great result Ondra, congratulations. If there is anyone who doubted, Ondra clearly proved that he belongs to the European and World top sgrongman sport. Ondra clearly defeated the big names like Pavel Kordiyaka, Rauno Heinla, Pa o'Dwyer, Aivars Šmaukstelis, Luke Stoltman and Gavin Bilton. And that definitely counts.