Britain’s Strongest Man 2023
A year has passed and its time once again for STRONGMAN SEASON! As always, things start off with the Giants Live qualifiers, and Britain’s Strongest Man!
Adam Bishop – England – 2020 Britain’s Strongest Man
Graham Hicks – England – 2019 Britain’s Strongest Man
Gavin Bilton – Wales – 2x UK’s Strongest Man
Andy Black – Scotland – 2x Scotland’s Strongest Man
Cillein Groom – Ireland
Zake Muluzi – Scotland
Kane Francis – England
Ryan Bennett – England – England’s Strongest Man 2022
Shane Flowers – England
Louis Jack – Scotland – Scotland’s Strongest Man 2022
Paul Smith – England – UK’s Strongest Man 2022
Mark Felix – England – Multiple runner up at Britain’s Strongest Man
There we have the lineup. Very different from last year, with both Stoltman brothers not competing as they were busy training for the Arnold’s, as well as the runner up from 2022 Pa O’Dwyer who was unfortunately injured just weeks before the event. However we have Graham Hicks and Gavin Bilton both returning from injury that saw them miss out on BSM in 2022, and they will want to make an impression for sure. Between those 2 and Adam Bishop we might be looking at our podium!
Event 1 – Deadlift Ladder
The first event is the Deadlift Ladder, featuring 5 bars weighing between 300kg and 380kg. All the athletes have to do is lift them all within the 60 second time limit. Easy! Groom went first, lifting 3 in a time of 38.18 seconds, followed by Bennett who did the same in 32.50 seconds. We join the action with Louis Jack and Paul Smith going head to head. Smith powers through the first 3 in under 20 seconds, with Bennett just behind him. The 4th lift is a struggle but he gets it, while Bennett just fails. Smith doesn’t even bother with the 5th lift, smart from him given how hard the 4th lift was. Save energy for the next event! Flowers and Felix are up next. Felix, the former king of the deadlift is showing that he still has it here, powering through 4 in barely over 22 seconds! The final lift is too much for him too though. Flowers seemed to suffer early on and didn’t make the 2nd lift, hopefully not an injury but we’ll have to see. Muluzi and and Francis next, with neither man going at a particularly fast pace, but both making it through 3 fairly easy. Muluzi can’t manage the 4th, but Francis can in an impressive showing! Next its Andy Black and Gavin Bilton, and they are keeping pace with each other on the first 2 lifts, but Bilton races ahead of him on the 4rd lift and is looking STRONG. So strong, he is the first to get that 5th lift up, with Black right behind him! Black came into Strongman a few years ago with a lot of potential but never quite managed to do well in larger events like this, but that lift showed that he has what it takes still. Bilton, after all his problems in recent years, will be thrilled with that too. The final 2 men are Bishop and Hicks. Both former BSM winners. Both former WSM finalists. And both men are world class deadlifters who have been trying to reach the magic 505kg in recent years. This should be a great battle! Hicks starts off the faster of the two, but Bish catches him up and manages to edge him out on the final lift, making it look even easier than Bilton!
Event 2 – Car Walk
Lift a car and run it down a course in the fastest time possible. Simple! 3 men have gone so far, with times ranging from 52 seconds to 34 seconds. The fact they all finished is great, but sadly those times will not hold up once some of the big hitters get going. Under 12 seconds is likely going to be a winning time, perhaps under 10 even! Bennett Vs Muluzi are up, with Muluzi really struggling to lift it on the start line. Bennett does much better, but is still “slow” from the times we have come to expect from top athletes. Under 30 seconds puts him in current 1st though. Over 50 seconds for poor Muluzi who really struggled, but well done to him for making it over the line! Paul Smith goes head to head with Mark Felix now, and Felix in the past has made this look like a cakewalk rather than a car walk! Both are speeding away, with both dropping it at one point down the line. Smith gets the win at under 20 seconds, and Felix just over 20 seconds. Can Andy Black and Gavin Bilton do any better? Bilton especially will be desperate to not only do well at this event, but simply get it done. In 2021, this event kicked off his health issues, so he has a score to settle with it. Black starts off faster, but half way he drops and just can’t seem to pick it back up for a while. Bilton is slow and steady and indeed wins the race in a time of around 25 seconds, placing him in current 3rd! Bilton must be ecstatic with that! Lastly we have THE big hitters with Bishop and Hicks facing off against each other once again. Bish is especially good as this, finishing in first place at a slower time than I expected at around 17 seconds. Hicks is just behind Smith and will finish 3rd.
Event 3 – Viking Press
150kg needs to be pressed overhead as many times as possible within the 60 second time limit, and NO DOUBLE DIPPING! Last thing we need is another Thor incident. This event should be interesting and really only Hicks is well known for his pressing power. Groom, Muluzi and Jack have been and gone, all doing impressive numbers with 5, 6 and then 9 respectively! Higher than I probably would have guessed, especially from Jack just because I’m not familiar with him. Black and Francis are first up for us to watch, and you’d expect Black to do very well given his size, but its Francis that is just ahead of the former Scotland’s Strongest Man. 8 for Black, and 10 for Francis who didn’t quite lock out on what could have been an 11th rep. Bennett and Bilton are next, and they are both looking strong AND fast. Not even 30 seconds have gone and both are on 11 reps, moving ahead to 12 and equalling the current world record! All of their energy is GONE at that point, but what a performance from both men! Felix and Hicks go head to head now. Hicks will be desperate to not only equal the record but shatter it. Felix has never been good at overhead, and 1 rep is all he manages. Despite having over 30 seconds left to get one more rep, Hicks has to stop after 12 too. He’ll be disappointed, but equalling a world record is never something to be upset with! Can Bishop or Smith top that? I don’t see it, but you never know until the event happens. Smith is fast and strong, and wow, 13 reps gets him the NEW world record and the look on his face says it all! Not only that but he definitely looked like he could have done more. Bishop is basically forgotten about and I didn’t even know how many reps he got until they showed the results afterwards. 8 reps for him, which will be a big disappointment for sure.
That puts us over the half way point, so lets see the overall points thus far:
That somewhat poor result for Bishop sends him down into 3rd place, as Hicks moves up and Smith just behind him. Bilton is within reach of a podium finish too and given the day he’s having, he very well could land on the podium. It looks to be an all out WAR between Hicks, Smith, Bishop and Bilton for a top 3 place!
Event 4 – Loading Race
Our Strongmen have to lift and carry an anchor, barrel, sack and tyre ranging from 100kg to 130kg down a 20 meter course in the fastest time possible. This should be a great event for the likes of Bishop and Bilton, while Hicks’ massive size could slow him down (which may seem weird to say when I picked Bilton as a favourite, but he has the height to make up for it!). Felix has been and gone, doing it in just over 49 seconds. Then Muluzi in over a minute. Groom followed him, getting it done in 44.61 seconds for the current fastest time. Black Vs Bishop now and Bish will be wanting to set a VERY fast time here. Black is doing extremely well keeping up with the much fitter man, and manages to finish in current 2nd place of just over 41 seconds. Bish though races ahead on the final tyre and finishes under 40 seconds. Jack against Francis, and I have no idea how either man will perform. This seems to favour Francis as he finishes ahead of Jack, but still behind both Black and Bishop. Can Bennett and Bilton do better? So far, it looks like Bilton has this in hand, but he’s JUST behind Bishop in the overall time. Bennett about 12 seconds behind that. Only Smith and Hicks can do better now, and they’ll both need to aim for under 40 seconds. Its neck and neck between the two going into the final implement, and Smith charges to the finish to get ahead of Hicks, but he fails to beat out Bishop AND Bilton. Bad news for Hicks who finishes 6th overall, which will cost him the overall lead going into the final event.
With just 1 event left, time to check in on the overall scores again to see who is potentially going to win Britain’s Strongest Man!
Bishop is back in 1st place overall, with Smith maintaining 2nd and Bilton now ahead of Hicks for that podium position. It is still possibly for any of these four men to win, so we’ll have to go to the final event and see how they do!
Event 5- Power Stairs
For the first time ever at BSM, the show is ending on the Power Stairs. 60 seconds to lift weights between 200kg and 250kg to the top of the stairs. This event can be BRUTAL for sapping energy and strength, and has been known to completely change up the leaderboard in previous events. Sadly this is probably the last event Hicks would have wanted to finish on, as his shorter height will almost certainly be a disadvantage, meanwhile someone like Bilton could take the title on this type of event. Its all to play for! 7 men have been and done, with ONLY Mark Felix finishing all 15 steps in a time of 57.19 seconds. This shows just how brutal the event is. We join the action with Hicks against Bilton. Good start from both men, but as time goes on I expect Bilton to take the lead. And as predicted, Bilton does indeed take the win in this head to head, guaranteeing a spot on the podium and likely pushing Hicks off unless Smith and Bishop completely mess up. Speaking of, Bishop and Smith are our last 2 athletes. This is also likely a bad event for Smith too as he’s shorter than the average strongman. Bish on the other hand is flying through these weights, SHATTERING the time of Bilton to confirm HE will be Britain’s Strongest Man. Sadly, one of my personal favourites Paul Smith, just cannot continue on, finishing with only 9 steps complete for 10th place overall. That has to be shattering for him as not only will his podium place be lost, but he could have dropped out of 4th place even.
There we have it, the NEW Britain’s Strongest Man, and now two time winner, is Adam Bishop. Bilton takes 2nd, and Hicks manages to hold onto 3rd place while poor Paul Smith is knocked down to 4th after putting on a great showing and even taking away a world record. I am now very excited to see how all four of those men can do when it comes to WORLD’S!
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