Strongman Classic 2025
Once a year strongman comes to the Royal Albert Hall for the Strongman Classic! Last year was an epic battle, with Mitchell Hooper putting on one of the most dominating performances. Multiple world records were broken or matched at the event too! Time to see who will be trying to create new moments this year!
Spenser Remick – USA – 7th at Strongman Classic 2023
Ben Glasscock – England – 5th at Britain’s Strongest Man 2025
Rayno Nel – South Africa – 2x Africa’s Strongest Man
Jaco Schoonwinkel – South Africa – 2023 WSM Finalist (Got injured during the Final)
Nick Guardione – USA – 2024 Official Strongman Games winner
Trey Mitchell – USA – 2x Shaw Classic winner
Mateusz Kieliszkowski – Poland – 3rd at Europe’s Strongest Man 2025
Pavlo Kordiyaka – Ukraine – 2023 Europe’s Strongest Man
Lucas Hatton – USA – 2nd at Arnold Strongman Classic 2025
Mark Felix – England – Retired Last Year! But he’s just here for the Hercules Hold to try and break the world record!
Paddy Haynes – England – 2nd at Europe’s Strongest Man 2025
Evan Singleton – USA – 5x Giants Live Winner & 3rd at World’s Strongest Man 2024
Mitchell Hooper – Canada – 2023 World’s Strongest Man
What a line up! We’re just missing Tom Stoltman and Luke Richardson otherwise this could be comparable to any WSM Final! Hooper will be the favourite here of course, but I don’t think he’ll have it as easy as last year. Evan Singleton, Lucas Hatton, Trey Mitchell, Mateusz Kieliszkowski and Paddy Haynes will all put up a good fight, and some other names here could put on the pressure in certain events too!
Event 1 – Log Medley
60 seconds, 5 logs. 120kg to 180kg. Fastest to press all 5 wins! This should be a fantastic opener as we have Lucas Hatton, one of the best pressers on the planet. Mitchell Hooper, one of the best pressers on the planet. Mateusz Kieliszkowski, formally one of the best pressers on the planet and working hard to get back to his best. Trey Mitchell, a static monster. We could see multiple men do all 5 in very fast times here! 6 men have been and gone, but nobody has got all 5 so far. Ben Glasscock down in last with only 2, and Pavlo Kordiyaka in 1st so far with 4 in the fasted time. Paddy Haynes did extremely well to get 3 logs up, but in this company, he’s currently 2nd to last! We join the action with Evan Singleton going head to head with Mateusz Kieliszkowski! The Polish Terminator looks powerful, while Evan is doing well too, just a little slower. Kieliszkowski gets 4 in a faster time than Pavlo, but continued on to get all 5 reps! Singleton managed all 5 too, just slower than his rival. Good pressing! Trey Mitchell against Lucas Hatton in what should be an epic battle! Lucas might be the strongest presser on the planet right now, but can he match the speed of some of the others? This far he’s ahead of Mitchell, and looking to go even faster than The Polish Terminator, and he does! Not only that, but Mitchell goes faster than Kieliszkowski did too! Finally then, its Mitchell Hooper against Rayno Nel. I’ve heard good things about Nel, but I don’t think I’ve seen him compete. Hooper trips over the first log, but manages to recover as Nel continues on, but seems to be stuck on the 4th log. Hooper in a rare occurrence is beaten, and doesn’t manage the 5th log! Did the fall mess up his mind? Great win for Hatton!
Event 2 – Hercules Hold
Hold up 2 massive 250kg pillars for as long as possible. Mark Felix is the reigning world record holder, and he’s come out of retirement to try and beat it! 10 men have gone, with the worst time being 49:30 from Pavlo, and that used to be a potential winning time a few years ago. 6 men have gone over the minute mark, including Mitchell Hooper who is currently down in 4th place. Nick Guardione holds #1 spot with a time of 1:10:04! Joining the action with Paddy Haynes. His terrible event, pressing, is out of the way, so now he can begin to gain some points. He was able to do so at Europe’s Strongest Man and finish 2nd, so who knows what he could do here! 1:07:60 for Paddy, which puts him above Hooper at the very least! Evan Singleton is next to try, and he’s already shaking a lot around the 40 second mark, but he keeps on going, and manages 1:11:39 for current 1st! Finally, its Mark Felix, who is a guest athlete for just this one event! Will he break his own insane world record of over 90 seconds? 1:32:37 is the current record… and unfortunately he doesn’t break it today, but he DOES last 1:22:79 to beat out everyone else today!
Event 3 – Frame Carry
A 360kg wooden frame to be carried down a 20m course in the fastest time possible! Normally this would be a great event for Hooper to catch up on some points, but he just doesn’t seem on form today. Singleton could continue to do well though, and Paddy Haynes might be able to claw back some points too. Kieliszkowski is one of the best in the world at this type of event and might end up getting his first event win! 4 men have gone so far; Kordiyaka, Glasscock, Remick, and Hatton, and none have managed the entire course! Hatton leads for distance though. First up, its Kieliszkowski and Mitchell. A good event for the Polish Terminator, and a bad event for Mitchell. 11.09s for Kieliszkowski, while Mitchell, who has issues in this event usually, doesn’t even get off the line. Hooper against Nel, and both are going very fast, and Nel gets over the line VERY FAST, but he dropped it before the line and it slid across. He is given a 2 second penalty… but he’s STILL faster than Kieliszkoski in a time of 10.59s! Mitchell dropped before the line too and had to pick it back up, finishing in 11.21s. If neither man dropped, they would have easily got under 9 seconds! Paddy and Jaco time, and both men are FAST, under 10 seconds, and its Jaco who JUST beats him by almost nothing! Finally then, Guardione against Singleton! Singleton wins this head to head, and not only that, he takes the event win! So many people under 10 seconds, and 2 men who should have if they didn’t drop!
3 events down, so let’s see the scores!
Singleton is on top form and looking to be in control of this competition. Schoonwinkel isn’t too far behind, but it seems the real race is for the 3rd podium position now with Guardione, Kieliszkowski and Haynes. The mighty Mitchell Hooper is having an off day for sure.
Event 4 – Axle Deadlift
350kg to be deadlifted as many times in 60 seconds! 6 men already been, with Kieliszkowski in last place after only 1 rep, a bad result even for him in his worst event. Hatton and Nel tied for current 2nd with 6 reps, but Hooper, one of the best deadlifters, finally shows what he can do with 7 reps, and that will be hard to beat! Trey Mitchell goes next and will go alone, and after a terrible event in the frame carry, he’ll want a big result here. He has already matches 7 reps of Hooper, and with 20 seconds left makes it to 8! In the end, he finishes with 10, TEN reps! Impressive! Guardione against Haynes next, and while I doubt either will get close to 10, I think the 7 of Hooper is in trouble again. Well, Haynes gets 8, and gives 9 a good try but is unable to lock out. Nick makes 5. Jaco and Evan up now as the final pair. 6 is enough for Jaco, while Evan manages a 7th to match Hooper. They tie for 3rd in Hooper’s best result of the competition so far.
One event left, so let’s see the scores!
Event 5 – Castle Stones
Yup, 5 stones. Lift them on platforms in the fatest time. Ranging in weight from 120kg to 200kg. You know the deal! Well, 7 men have gone, and only 1 man was unable to get all 5 stones up; MITCHELL HOOPER. Leading the way with a time of 24:46 is Rayno Nel! With Hooper out of the running, and Trey Mitchell not finishing too highly so far on the stones, it seems they are no longer able to get a podium finish. Nick Guardione however is still in with a chance, and he will face off against Paddy Haynes! Haynes is doing great, while sadly Guardione fumbles on the first stone, and his chances are gone. 22.88 seconds for Paddy, and he is guaranteed a podium position, but will he be 3rd or 2nd? Jaco against Evan, and as long as Evan doesn’t mess up, he’ll be taking home the win! Jaco needs to do enough to maintain 2nd, and he’s ahead of Evan on each stone, and beats Singleton! He will take 2nd ahead of Haynes, while Singleton only manages 4, but will his time be good enough to keep his 1st place? YES!
And there we have it, confirmation that Evan wins, Jaco is 2nd, and Paddy is in 3rd! Rayno did well go get into 4th overall too! 8th place for Hooper I believe is his worst competition finish since World’s Strongest Man 2022? Hopefully he just needs some rest after competing at the highest level for 3 years straight.
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