This Giant’s Live is not just a qualifier for the WSM, but also Britain’s Strongest Man!
Giant’s Live 2 – Doncaster
Let’s take a look at the strongmen competing to become Britain’s Strongest Man 2016!
Fredi Gonzales – Cuba (guest competitor)
Jonathan Kelly
Mark Jeanes
Rob Frampton
Luke Stoltman
Adam Bishop
Darren Sadler
Mark Felix
Laurence Shahlaei
Terry Hollands
Eddie Hall – Reigning Champion
A very strong line up! Eddie Hall will have to push himself to the limit to retain his title here!
Event 1 – Viking Press
155kg must be pressed as many reps as possible! Hall should NOT be beaten here.
A bunch of guys have been and gone, and Darren Sadler returns after 4 years to get current 1st place with a total of 10 reps. Pretty impressive! Mark Felix is the first man we get to see do this event, and he “only” manages 7. Pressing never been his best event so that is a good result from him. Shahlaei next, another athlete making a comeback. He looked great teaming with Terry Hollands in the tag team strongman tournament, so I think he can do well overall here. He equals Sadler with 10 reps! Can Hollands, the man who retired for a whole year, do any better? For someone who is never great at pressing events, 11 reps for current first place is something special! Especially after being retired for a year! Eddie Hall is last, and well, I think we can expect that 11 to be beaten with ease. 12 reps later and I am glad to be right. He could have gone much further too, but he simply didn’t need to do a single rep more as he’d already won. Great start for the defending champion!
Event 2 – Deadlift
Deadlift with a van! 375kg for these strongmen to lift as many times as possible! Hall, Felix, Shahlaei and Hollands are all world class at this with repetitions. Will be hard to predict the winner here.
Shahlaei manages 15, but is beaten by Bishop who gets a massive 17 reps, and now we get to see Felix and Stoltman give this event a go. Stoltman is struggling on 3, while Felix is sat on 11 after only 30 seconds gone! Wow, when the whistle blows, Felix is ONLY on 16! Again, Felix doesn’t place first in a deadlift for reps event. Age is definitely catching up to him. Anyway, next is Hall and Hollands! Hollands used to be the best Brit with deadlift, but Hall is now the best in the WORLD. However, that is a single lift. Reps? Wouldn’t put it past him. Hall is on 17 for joint first after 40 seconds, while Hollands is struggling on 13. One more for Hall and he wins his second event in a row. Surprising result from Hollands there, he would have liked to have done more doe sure.
Event 3 – Car Walk
20 metres, 460kg. Pick up the car and RUN with it like the Flintstones. Crazy! Hollands holds the world record atm, but can that time be beaten here?
Felix is fasted so far with 12.40 seconds, so close to the world record. Hall the first for us to see, and he’s fast, but not fast enough at 14.15 seconds. Hall is NOT happy. Can Hollands beat his own record? It looks good, but outside of his own time at 12.45 seconds which places him in current 2nd. Shahlaei now, and from what I remember, he’s never been good at this event. Very fast pickup, and he’s running like a madman! I think we have a new world record! Yes! 11.92 seconds! Incredible!
3 events down, so lets look at the current scores:
Hall still on top, but Shahlaei is closing in on him, and Hollands isn’t that far behind either. Considering this time last year, Hollands was retired and Shahlaei was seriously considering it due to injuries, the fact that both men have returned and are still competing like they never left is extremely impressive.
Event 4 – Thor’s Hammer
The athletes will need to hold a 30kg hammer out at arm’s length for as long as possible. Not a heavy weight for lifting and pressing for these guys, but holding it in this way will drain their power very quickly.
Kelly and Stoltman are up, after a few men have already had their turn. 38 seconds from Sadler is the current time to beat. 35.55 for Kelly, and Stoltman gets just under 40 seconds for the current lead. The Beast Eddie Hall and Terry Hollands get to face off again. 32.28 seconds for Hollands, as this is not a good event. Hall on the other hand looks to have a winning time with 56.05 seconds! Doubt we’ll see anyone beat that time, but in WSM, anything can happen! Shahlaei and Felix are last and both go past Hollands, and are nearing the 50 seconds. 46 for Shahlaei and Felix at 52. Close for Mark, but 4 seconds is a long time in these type of events.
Event 5 – Conan’s Wheel
A 200kg weight needs to be lifted and then walked around for as many degrees as possible.
390 for Hollands, 405 for Laurence. Not good results for them tbh. Stoltman shatters their results with 761. Bishop looking to get back some big points, and this event is one that he can do very well at. I’ve seen him do this in other competitions and he’s always done well. 795 for him, placing him in current first. Sadler is one of the best at this event, but after 4 years away can he maintain his greatness here? 835 says yes! If Eddie beats that, I’ll definitely be surprised. Before Hall though, we have Felix, and he only gets 575, but it does place him above Hollands and Shahlaei which is good for him. Eddie is last, and if he beats Hollands and Shahlaei too, he’ll still be on top overall. 620 puts him above those two and Felix, which is all he needed, but it definitely looked like he couldn’t have done better anyway!
One event left, lets check the scores:
After some bad events, Hollands drops all the way down to 6th, with no chance of winning now. Felix and Shahlaei are likely to get podium finishes here unless Bishop can pull out an upset and overtake one of them. Hall realistically is walking away a 3 time Britain’s Strongest Man!
Event 6 – Atlas Stones
Once more the stones will decide the winner!
Felix the first we see, and he NEEDS a great result to get a second place finish rather than a third. 19.14 for all 5 stones! Excellent time, and Laurence will need to work real hard to beat that! He’s up next and knows what he must beat. Only 20.75 for him, and we’ll need to wait and see how that effects the overall scores! Hall is last and well, 17.94 seconds secures his win for a 3rd time! Thor considers himself to be KING OF THE STONES, but Hall did beat him last year in the WSM final, and that time definitely places him as perhaps the real king!
The overall scores are:
Well, that excellent performance in the stones by Felix, and Bishop getting between him and Laurence, means that by just half a point, Mark Felix takes 2nd place, and his second podium finish in a row at Giant’s Live this year! He may be 49 years old, but he seems to be better now than he ever was! The real story here though is Eddie Hall becoming a 3 time Britain’s Strongest Man, and looking almost unstoppable in the process!
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