4 strongmen have advanced to the final now, with 6 more still to come. Only 2 men will continue on from today’s heat, so lets have a look at the athletes competing!
- Mat Ragg – New Zealand – 7th place at World’s Strongest Man 2023
- Adam Bishop – England – 2x Britain’s Strongest Man
- Aivars Smaukstelis – Latvia – 2nd at Europe’s Strongest Man 2024
- Thomas Evans – USA
- Rob Kearney – USA
- Pa O’Dwyer – Ireland
3 men in this group have all been to the finals previously, so logically you’d say that Ragg, Bishop and Smaukstelis would be the 3 men battling it out for the automatic qualifying position and the stone off. Interesting to note that it was Ragg who beat Smaukstelis in the stone off last year to make it into the finals. Bishop on paper is a favourite over the other 3 men in this group, however the fact he hasn’t qualified for the final since 2021 does mean that he isn’t always guaranteed anything. Thomas Evans could be the wild card of the group if Bishop underperforms. Apparently this is also the last professional strongman event for Rob Kearney too.
Heat 1 – Webster Stones
The Webster Stones are starting things off again; 1 stone is 136kg, and the other is 113kg, and they must be carried as far as the athletes possibly can! Kearney could surprise people in this event and take the win. He and O’Dwyer are the first two up, so we’ll see if Kearney can indeed put on a show. He looks good at the 20m mark where he makes the turn, but drops them right after and is unable to pick them up. O’Dwyer only managed 16.65m. Next is Evans and Bishop. Bish is going very fast, hoping to gain as much distance as possible before his grip goes, while Evans is much slower and drops them twice just after the turn. He makes it past Kearney, while Bish goes 35.29m in a very good result for him that I wasn’t expecting tbh. Now Ragg and Smaukstelis will attempt to beat that distance. Aivars taking the Bish approach by going off like a rocket, while Ragg is taking it very slow. He makes it a little past the turn, while Smaukstelis is just behind Bish for second place!
Event 2 – Deadlift Ladder
5 bars ranging from 300kg to 380kg must be lifted in the quickest time. Bishop is one of the best deadlifters around and should be the favourite, but with it being all about time, someone could potentially take first from him if they are quick enough. Its Kearney against O’Dwyer once again. Neither man is rushing, but its Pa who is the quicker of the two. He gets 4 reps, while Kearney only gets 3. Ragg takes on Evans now, and Ragg gets all 5 up in just over 30 seconds, which will be a tough time for even Bishop to beat. Evans is slower, but with plenty of effort that 5th rep goes up for him! Now can Bishop and Smaukstelis do any better? The 30.72 seconds time from Ragg is going to be very hard to beat; not even reigning champ Mitchell Hooper did it faster in the previous heat! Wow. Just WOW. Bishop actually did it with about 3 seconds to spare! Aviars manages 4, but in a slow time for this heat.
Event 3 – Sandbag Steeplechase
3 120kg sandbags of different shapes must be loaded onto a platform at the end of a 20m course. However, at the 10m mark, they have to throw the bags over a bar as well! This should be another good event for Bishop, as well as Ragg. First up though, Kearney got 5, while O’Dwyer does the same but in a faster time. Then it was Evans against Smaukstelis, and Smaukstelis leads after the first bag. Evans after the second bag goes over the bar gives up and holds his arm, hopefully not an injury that will keep him from competing. Smaukstelis goes for the final bag and falls over exhausted, thankfully not to the extent of Gavin Bilton yesterday, so he should be able to carry on. Finally then its Bishop and Ragg going head to head and this should be a great race. Bishop makes a mistake when going under the bar, hitting it on the way, costing him valuable seconds. Ragg is clearly the fitter and faster of the two here though, finishing all bags, while Bishop stops after throwing the final bag over the bar, knowing his time for 5 bags was quicker than everyone else so he gets second without putting in more effort.
3 events down, 3 to go, so lets check the points!
Things are shaping up roughly as I expected, though I would have guessed Bishop was down in 3rd. He’s having a great contest so far, hopefully he can keep it up and avoid the stone off. Smaukstelis needs to be careful as a couple of bad showing in the next 2 events could see any of the 3 men below him take the spot in the stones!
Event 4 – Viking Press
150kg to be pressed overhead as many times in 1 minute! Overhead pressing isn’t the best event for Bishop, but if he can get around 3rd place he should be good. First up to tackle this event is Evans and Smaukstelis. Both men put up big numbers, getting 14 each until Evans squeezes out an extra 3! 17 reps I don’t think is going to be beaten, and this could be bad news for Bishop as I don’t think he can reach even 14 reps. Next up is Kearney and O’Dwyer. Kearney a number of years ago was a top level presser, so he could still put up a good number here. Bad result for Pa who manages only 7, while Kearney gets 11. The pressure is going to be on Adam for sure, who needs at least 12 to keep his good standing in the points. Sadly he only just manages the 7 reps of Pa, placing him tied 5th. Ragg is much better, getting 12 reps for 3rd.
Event 5 – Car Walk
A 454kg car needs to be lifted and walked down the 20m course in the quickest time! Hard to predict this event as half the time, people who should be great at it do terrible, and vice versa. All I know is that Bishop NEEDS a good result as he is now half a point behind Ragg. First up is the final event for Rob Kearney, along with Pa O’Dwyer. Kearney is fantastic at this, finishing in an insane time of 12.07 seconds! Pa, knowing he cannot qualify anyway, decides to let Kearney have a moment to himself being his last event. Evans takes on Smaukstelis now in a battle for 3rd, and Aivars, while nowhere near as quick as Kearney, wins with ease over Evans who almost doesn’t finish the course, but gets a spurt of energy and goes over the line with less than 5 seconds left! Aivars guaranteed to make the stone off now, but who will he face? Just half a point separates Bishop and Ragg, so it all comes down to this. A great start for Adam, but he drops it a couple of times, allowing Ragg to beat him. Bishop looks to be hurt as well, and heartbreakingly its an achilles injury and he has to withdraw from competition.
Mat Ragg ends up winning the heat and automatically qualifies, while Smaukstelis and Evans will be the two men to battle it out in the stone off.
Event 6 – Stone Off
6 stones to be passed over a bar to each other, all increasing in weight. Once they get to the final stone, they keep passing that until one person is unable to do so. Smaukstelis lost out on a place in the final here last year, so he wants to avenge that loss. Evans doesn’t look strong at all on the first stone, and he is unable to get the second one over at all. Aivars Smaukstelis gets through to the final and will have saved a lot of energy only having to lift a single stone.
And that’s the end of the heat. Ragg makes his second final in 2 attempts, while Smaukstelis makes it again after a handful of years. Hopefully Bishop can recover quickly and be back to his best again next year!
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