Top 10 Strongest Men in the World

This British muscle man completed his first strongman competition in 2007. By 2011, he was placing first in the UK’s Strongest Man competition - a title he would go on to win six years in a row. That’s not the only contest he’s impressed at though. In 2017, he notably won Britain's Strongest Man as well as the highly coveted World’s Strongest Man title. The latter event saw him max deadlift 1,042 lbs. He also finished in second place in the Europe's Strongest Man competition that year. Hall has since retired from strongman competitions, but you may have seen him making his acting debut in 2023’s “Expend4bles.”

At the 2021 World Weightlifting Championships, Lasha Talakhadze lifted 267kg in the clean and jerk. This was significant, just breaking the previous record of 266 kg – a record that had stood for since 1988, when the great Soviet/Belarusian weightlifter Leonid Taranenko set it. But wait, there’s also a lot more that speaks to Taranenko’s strength. For instance, he took home a weightlifting gold medal at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow and a silver at the Barcelona games 12 years later, in 1992. He’s no stranger to medals at the World Weightlifting Championships either., with a bronze, a silver, and two golds to his name.

Born in Yorkshire, England in 1970, Andy Bolton notably has an impressive 5th place finish at the 2002 Arnold Strongman Classic contest. However, he’s primarily known as a powerlifter. In fact, he has three first place finishes at the World Powerlifting Championships of 2000, 2001 and 2008. And he is probably best known to fans as the first man to ever deadlift 1000 pounds. About a year after he amazed everyone with that feat in 2006, he also set the squat and the World Powerlifting Organization total weight world records.

He isn’t just a mountain of a man, he played a man called “The Mountain” on HBO’s “Game of Thrones”. While he was playing “The Mountain” on TV, he was also mounting an impressive number of strongman trophies on his mantle. Going through the 56 international and national solo first-place finishes of his career would take too long. But his accomplishments in 2018 kind of put everything in focus. That was when Hafþór became the first man to win the Arnold Strongman Classic, the Europe's Strongest Man, and the World's Strongest Man contests all in the same year. He also won the titles of World's Ultimate Strongman and Iceland's Strongest Man. Talk about domination!

Also known as Apollon the Mighty, Louis Uni was born in France in 1862. Given the time period, the accounts of his feats of strength aren’t always easy to confirm, but there’s no doubt about his place in history. Most any conversation about the strongest men ever will come around to Uni. Famous for his grip strength, he performed feats that few others could attempt. This included everything from one-handed snatches to an “Escaping Prisoner” stage act that saw him bending iron bars at will. In 1913, he even put on a show which had him extending his arms to keep two vehicles back, though he was sadly injured in the process.

Imagine winning the World's Strongest Man title and the Arnold Strongman Classic in the same year. Someone who doesn’t have to imagine such an accomplishment is Brian Shaw, because he’s done it… twice! When he pulled it off in 2011, it was a first. Four years later, it remained as impressive. It’s no surprise, since if you look at the ranking of “most decorated strongmen” in 2023, you’ll see he sits in an impressive 4th place. If you want further proof of his skill, allow us to direct you to an episode of “The Strongest Man in History” where he took less than 45 seconds to completely dominate a viking ship weighing in at 60 000 lbs. Did we mention it was on an incline?

This man stood atop the proverbial strength mountain in the ‘50s and ‘60s. He won weightlifting gold medals at the 1955 World Championships and at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956. In 1960, he was deemed ineligible to compete at the Olympics. But he wasn’t going to let that stop him. Indeed, he showed off his might by matching the record set at those same games - three times in a row. Now, did he really squat 1200 pounds? There are skeptics to that, and some other of his accomplishments. Still, greats like Bruce Wilhelm have called him “the strongest of the strong.”

Back in the ‘80s, Kasmaier dubbed himself “the strongest man who ever lived,” and would pull off amazing accomplishments in order to live up to said claim. But Kasmaier isn’t some sort of sideshow strongman, he’s the real deal, and truly one of history’s greatest men of strength. As of 2023, there have been two men who have won three consecutive World's Strongest Man titles - he’s one of them. He’s also set multiple records, like when he bench pressed 660 pounds during an International Powerlifting Federation event. He may no longer hold that record, but it doesn’t make it any less remarkable.

The Arnold Strongman Classic is considered by many to be the hardest strongman competition in the world. Who won the first ever contest in 2002, you may ask? That would be Mark Henry. He excels at the strongman stuff, while also reigning supreme in both power and weightlifting - which took him to the 1992 and 1996 Olympics. Sadly, an injury kept him from reaching his full potential on the latter event’s stage. However, his performance at the 1996 U.S. National Weightlifting Championships was one for the history books, as was his 5 lift record. Henry also joined the WWE, building a Hall of Fame-worthy career, proving he’s not a one trick pony.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Vasyl Virastyuk
He Won Ukraine’s Strongest Man 6 Times & Became a Member of Parliament in 2021

Magnús Ver Magnússon
He Won 4 World’s Strongest Man Golds in the ‘90s, 3 of Which Were in a Row

Mariusz Pudzianowski
His 5 World’s Strongest Man & 6 Europe’s Strongest Man Wins Speak for Themselves

In 1989, a teenaged Žydrūnas Savickas watched a strongman competition and decided he wanted to do that. It only took a few years before he began competing, and building what would become perhaps the greatest strongman career of all time. We don’t have time to get into every single world record he set, but we will say there are more than 70 of them. And if you want to talk about competitions, all you have to do is look at his 4 World's Strongest Man titles, or his 8 Arnold Strongman Classic wins. Let’s also not forget his multiple 1st place finishes in the Strongman Champions League competition circuit.

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