We caught up with the World’s Strongest Man creator Barry Frank, and asked him what he thought about this year’s final.

“The event this year has certainly the best group of athletes we’ve had in the last twenty years” said Barry. “It’s as close as can be and it’s just a question of who’s going to last the longest. I’m delighted to finally see some event merchandise available so our fans can take home some souvenirs.”

Overhead Lift Apollo’s Axle

This event requires the athletes to lift a 155 kilo axle over their heads as many times as possible over 75 seconds. The event was held at the picturesque location of Wield iz-Zurrieq, right on Malta’s rocky coast.

Zydrunas Savickas won the event with nine reps to take maximum points in the round, closely followed in joint second place by Derek Poundstone and Mariusz Pudzianowski who both achieved eight reps.

Boat Pull

The Boat Pull was set to follow the morning’s action located around the corner of the bay, with the natural high cliffs giving spectators a perfect view of the event. The athlete’s task was to pull a 300kg boat up a 20 metre slope.

Following yesterday’s plane pull win, Britain’s Terry Hollands only managed fourth place with a time of 47.07. Mariusz gave a blistering performance, which looked unbeatable until the USA’s Brian Shaw stepped up to finish the event. Brian destroyed the rest of the field with an epic pull, completing the task in 32.44 seconds. Canada’s Louis Philippe Jean finished in tenth position, only managing to pull the boat 12.30 metres.

Keeping you updated

The WSM Team