The Ukrainian dynamite thundered to the top of world strength last year. At just 24-years-old, he won the World’s Strongest Man 2020 title, the youngest person to win the event since the legendary Jón Páll Sigmarsson in 1984.
Since then, the sport has evolved and Mariusz Pudzianowski dominated throughout the naughties. Later, Žydrūnas Savickas, or ‘Big Z’, and American Brian Shaw ruled the world.
It is important not to forget Eddie Hall, who claimed his WSM title in 2017 after writing his name in the history books when he became the first man to deadlift 500kg the previous year.
‘Big Z’ is recognised as the strongest man to have ever lived, and 10 top three WSM finishes and eight Arnold Classic wins backs that up.
However, a new name is now hammering on the rather large door into the strongman history books, Oleksii Novikov.
Standing at just 6’1ft and 135kg, Novikov is one of the leaner strongmen you will see, but don’t let his modest frame deceive you.
He is the son of the formidable Soviet method of General Physical Preparedness which won no end of Powerlifting and Strength titles in the 20th century. He won his first Ukraine’s Strongest man at the tender age of 20 in 2016 and never looked back.
Novikov, who trains at his local fireman gym, grew up watching Pudzianowski at work and this shows.
For what alludes him in size, he more than makes up for with meteoric strength and initiative.
In 2020, the 24-year-old flew out to Bradenton, Florida to compete in just his second World’s Strongest Man competition and found himself on top of the podium.
Not only did he win the WSM 2020 title by a 4.5-point margin ahead of Tom Stoltman and JF Caron, he also pulled a mammoth 537.5kg in the 18-inch Max deadlift, a new world record.
While some put the underdog victory down to the notable absentees of defending Champion Martins Licis and two-time runner up Mateusz Kieliszkowski due to injury, the new champion took his title home to Kiev and began training for a year of domination in 2021.
On 12 March 2021, ‘World’s Ultimate Strongman’ was held in Bahrain, the first competition of the year.
It included some of the greatest strongmen on the planet, but Novikov dominated from start to finish. Particularly in the Giant Dumbbell Press where he mustered 100kg for 10 reps.
Come the end of the competition, he was 10 points ahead of the rest of the field. With another World’s Strongest Man competition on the horizon, Oleksii Novikov could be the youngest person to win back-to-back crowns by the age of 25, which would be clear intent to become the strongest man in history.