Tom Stoltman retains Britain’s Strongest Man crown in dominant fashion

The Stoltman’s dominance continued at Sheffield Arena on Saturday evening as current World’s Strongest Man, Tom, led the pack from start to finish with four first place and one second place finish across all five events. Ireland’s strongest, Pa O’Dwyer recorded his best Britain’s finish (2nd) while 2020 Britain’s Strongest Man, Adam Bishop came home third. 

The first event saw the Giants steaming up and down a 20m track carrying a colossal 200kg shield. The previous record holder with 60m, Mark Steele had a disappointing run when he tripped up around 14m in. After lung busting, bicep pumping efforts from Shane Flowers and local lad Paul Smith, the ‘Limerick Lion’ O’Dwyer set a new world record, eventually tip-toeing his way to 62.15m. 

Unfortunately for O’Dwyer, Tom Stoltman was up next intent on breaking the record set a matter of minutes before. He made no mistake, reaching 65.30m  before the 200kg shield was too much to bear. It was an incredible feat and a message to the rest of the field that only one man was going home number one. 

Next up was the 360kg Axle deadlift, 2020 winner Adam Bishop’s forte. If ‘Bish’ was to stand any chance of giving Tom a run for his money, he had to stake a claim here, which he did with a big six reps. Only to be matched by Tom ‘The Albatross’ who also mustered six repetitions to maintain his position at the top.

Unfortunately for the elder Stoltman brother, Luke, this event proved to be his last of the night, as he withdrew with a quadricep injury. With the Arnold’s coming up next week and preparation for World’s Strongest Man in a few month’s time, the ‘Highland Oak’ rightly decided to call it a night. Another notable performance in the deadlift came from the ‘Miracle Man’ Mark Felix; four reps for the 55-year-old. It seems like he could go on forever.

Then came another Axle event, this time a 155kg clean and press. Stoltman continued his charge towards the title with five reps which was enough to secure another event win. However, perhaps the more impressive performance in this one came from Paul Smith. Sheffield’s own strongman opted for a power clean and jerk rather than the traditional strongman method of cleaning the axle up to sit on the stomach, largely due to a sternum injury. The unique technique certainly paid off as he closed in on an impressive top five finish overall.

The penultimate event of the night was the Sandbag throw, the first time this event has featured at Britain’s. The Giants had to throw six sandbags which increased in weight from 19kg to 28kg over the bar sitting at 15ft. Shane Flowers pulled off the upset of the night, of sorts, when he steamed through all six sandbags faster than Stoltman who was slightly more cautious not to waste too much energy on the lighter bags. For Flowers, currently England’s Strongest Man, this was his first event win on the Giants Live circuit just six months into his competitive strongman career. A bright future lies ahead. 

Of course, as is tradition, the last event was the Stones increasing in weight from 120kg to 200kg. Tom Stoltman went into his best event already nine points ahead and all but uncatchable. The battle was building up behind him though between O’Dwyer and Bishop for second place and between Flowers and Smith for fourth. 

While Stoltman expectedly won, lifting all five stones in just over 21 seconds, Flowers again performed well to clinch second in the event and fourth overall, leaving Smith in fifth despite a strong stone run. O’Dwyer was able to pip Bishop to 2nd place on the podium beating him by fine margins on the final event. 

Next up for Giants Live is Europe’s Strongest Man in Leeds on April 2nd. Luke Stoltman will be hoping to defend his title against his own younger brother. The full Leaderboard for Britain’s Strongest Man 2022 can be found below.