Mitchell Hooper reigned supreme at the Arnold Strongman Classic 2024! Detailed report with results

The Arnold Sports Festival took place last long weekend. Specifically, from February 29 to March 3, 2024, you could see hundreds to thousands of athletes measuring their fitness, strength, speed, aesthetics, just about everything that can be measured. In Columbus, Ohio, USA, the annual celebration of sport was held under the auspices of Arnold Schwarzenegger. The biggest and brightest spotlight may have shone on bodybuilders, bodybuilders and their associated sports, but Arnold, this is also a celebration of strength sports.

And a highly watched sport is just Strongman, the second biggest and most watched competition, which is also considered the toughest, is just the Arnold Strongman Classic. The record holder of this competition is Zydrunas Savickas, who has won 8 titles. At the same time, every strongman from the world top wants a title from Arnold as well.

This year, 11 fighters came to the professional competition. All the big names of the world strongman scene. The last three strongest men in the world, Mitchell Hooper, or two-time World's Strongest Man title holder Tom Stoltman, or Oleksii Novikov were not missing here. Among the competitors were Bobby Thompson, Evan Signeton, Maxime Boudreault. Another chapter are the competitors who announced their comeback at this very race, either because of previous retirement or because of the need to finish their injuries.

Martins Licis, the 2019 World's Strongest Man title holder, Mateusz Kieliszkowski, the hopefully recovered and eternally second-placed Pole, and Icelandic giant Hafthor Bjornsson returned to the boards after three and a half years. So, as I claimed at the start that the last three strongest men in the world, I was a bit of a blabbermouth... The race featured a total of 5 title holders from the last 6 years.

The competitors competed in five brutal disciplines, in a two-day race.

• Elephant bar deadlift
• Timber Carry
• Dinnie Stones
• Apollon's Wheels
• Stones of Strength

Elephant bar deadlift

There is no worse discipline than the deadlift at maximum weight, that is, from the point of view of a competitor who is starting a race and would like to perform well in the following hours or days. It's also all about tactics, as long as you don't destroy yourself right at the start so that continuing in the race is just a matter of hanging in the air. From a spectator's point of view though, it's something completely different, a treat for the eyes as the maximum effort of the racers is always very watchable. It started at 370 kg and continued with the last man standing system. What exactly happened to Maxime Boudreault I don't know, but he has always been an excellent deadlifter, this time he failed to record any valid attempts and then withdrew from the competition.

So let's hope that if he is injured, this injury will not be serious. Anyway, after that it was as it should be... competitors got over 400 kg in a few attempts and there every attempt is already admirable. Mitchell Hooper started the competition with a third place, lifting a 431 kg barbell. Second place went to Bobby Thompson with a deadlift of 436 kg. First place and the first lead in the race was taken quite smoothly by the current absolute world record holder in the deadlift and a huge fighter Hafthor Bjornsson, he lifted 456 kg and had no competition at the race.

Timber Carry

Carrying a frame or corral, this one in Columbus was wooden and weighed as much as 400 kg. The wrestlers had to walk an eleven metre route which was up a slight hill. Tears were, of course, forbidden. After the deadlift, the next thing that properly tested the backs of the competitors was, of course, the grip. The total time limit per attempt was 30 seconds. Only 4 strongmen were able to carry the fence to the finish. Mateusz Kielizskowski, who has always been one of the best at the running events, took the bronze. The silver position was taken by Hafthor Bjornsson. And Mitchell Hooper took full points.

Dinnie Stones

Carrying Dinnie Stones is a very interesting discipline, it can be a bit dangerous for your back because it involves 2 stones that weigh differently each. One is 145 kg and the other 188 kg. There is an eye and handle drilled into the stones from above, which the competitors carry the stones by. The discipline went to the greatest distance with a limit of 90 seconds with one lay allowed, the second one already meant the end. Considering the weight of the two stones and the type of iron eye attachment, it was to be expected that this would not be a hiker's walk of tens of metres. The best ones surpassed the ten meter mark. Third place with a distance of 10.62 meters was managed by Evan Singleton. Hafthor Bjornsson walked just 10 centimetres more to take second place. Mitchell Hooper took the win with a distance of 12.6 metres.

The first day of competition (March 1) ended and as a result, two competitors finished with the same score. Mitchell Hooper and Hafthor Bjornsson had a total of 31 points and led the race. In third place was Evan Singleton. The race continues the next day.

Apollon's Wheels

Apollo's Wheels, an amazing and technical discipline that requires strong arms. The competitors lifted an axle loaded to a total of 182 kg above their heads. They had to complete as many repetitions as possible within a time limit of 2 minutes. The spectacle was luxurious. A split second place was won by Tom Stoltman, who had been in the top half but below the podium. Together with him Mateusz Kieliszkowski, both of them managed 4 reps. The only one who managed to beat them was Mitchel Hooper, who raced brilliantly again. He got the barbell over his head five times. On the second day Thomas Evans did not enter the competition.

Stones of Strength

Stones of Strength, or also a medley with stones. A composite discipline of three parts. First, the stone press, i.e. lifting a stone above the head, which was 136 kg. Next, a 166 kg stone over a goat, the standard discipline for Atlas stones. The last one was then lifting a 186 kg stone on the shoulder for reps to the limit. The limit for everything was two and a half minutes. You would think that's quite a lot of time, it must have been endless for the competitor. But this was the last event, and everyone in the starting field had to squeeze out the last of their strength.

3 riders didn't make it to the last discipline, to everyone's surprise Martins Licis was among them, who usually has no problem with such disciplines, but especially Hafthor Bjornsson, who unfortunately took away the possibility of finishing on the podium with this performance, but let's not move on. Third in the discipline Tom Stoltman, who after a fast start managed only 2 reps on the last part. Second place with the same result, just a faster time by Mitchell Hooper who already knew tactically. In fact Mateusz Kieliszkowski went ahead of him for the attempt and by the looks of it, he managed a fantastic 5 reps, winning the discipline.

It was a really excellent race, the fact that the women and the other categories were also competing at the same time made everything a bit long, but still hugely interesting for the spectators, especially from the point of view of Hafthor Bjornsson's fans, who were eager to see him after three and a half years. It was a pity that Hafthor's second day of the race didn't work out completely, while the first one was fantastic for him. Well, we'll see what happens next. Hafthor once vowed that he no longer wanted to race in races organised by Giant's Live with promoter Colin Bryce, also on World's Strongest Man.

He ended his career with a tenth Iceland's Strongest Man title in 2020, and that was preceded by a win at the 2020 Arnold Strongman Classic. This year, Hafthor was left with an unpopular potato, but as a comeback, it's still a fantastic result.

This year's edition, after the points have been added up, is over. Tom Stoltman took the highest total in third place, a total of 38.5 points. Mateusz Kieliszkowski took second place with 40.4 points and lived up to his nickname "eternally second". Taking the win for a successful first day, but also for a fantastic second day of racing, was none other than the strongest fighter of the last two years, Canadian hotshot Mitchell Hooper. Congratulations.

With that I would consider this season as started, we can't wait to see what the new season 2024 will bring and how much we will be able to watch and inflect the name of the Czech racer Ondra Fojtů, who has already fought his way among the above-mentioned top riders, but now he will definitely want to prove that he is not only participating, but that he will also speak in the high rankings...

Overall results:

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