The World’s Strongest Man competition was held over the weekend, with Game of Thrones actor and professional strongman Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (aka ‘Thor’, aka ‘The Mountain’) has taken out the official title.
Held in Manilla over the past week, the Icelandic native took the title with a final score of 51.5 points, crushing his nearest competitor, Poland’s Mateusz Kieliszkowski, on 45 points.
While Björnsson’s rise might seem quick to some, this is The Mountain’s 8th attempt at the title, competing every single year since 2011 without a win… until now. Since 2012, he’s consistently placed in the top 3, with the title eluding him until this year’s victory.
At 29 years-old and weighing in at a staggering 200kg, the champion claimed his title by winning the Overhead Press and Loading Race in the final event of the competition. Other events included a Giant Dumbbell Press, Keg Toss, and a casual Vehicle Pull… in this case, a bus.
“Want to thank all of my family, friends and fans for supporting me along the way,” said Björnsson after winning the title, giving a special shoutout to Sebastian Oreb, his Australian based coach.
“I always knew @thorbjornsson was the strongest man alive and on the 6th of May 2018 it became official,” said coach Oreb in an emotionally charged Instagram post. “Winning the Worlds Strongest Man is his greatest achievement as an athlete… This is also my greatest achievement in my career, and I’m not sure it gets much better than this.”
It sounds like the pair don’t plan to slow down any time soon, with Oreb saying he “can’t wait to do it all again”.
