Less than 24 hours after winning the 2023 World’s Strongest Man title in Myrtle Beach, SC, Mitchell Hooper gave his fans insight on what Sunday, Apr. 23, 2023 looked like from his perspective. The new champion posted a YouTube video that documented the final day of the contest.
The video was succinctly titled “I WON: World’s Strongest Man 2023,” and it was published on his channel the morning of Apr. 24, 2023. The video opens with Hooper walking to the contest area, apparently excited about the upcoming day. Despite winning six of the eight previous contest events, he also acknowledged that there was no guarantee of victory against his elite peers.
“It’s going to be a battle between the four of us today … We’ll see how my dumbbell [event] goes. We’ll see how Tom [Stoltman’s] dumbbell [event] goes. We’ll see how Oleksii [Novikov’s] [Atlas] stone goes. Trey [Mitchell], in the mix with them all. We’ll see how it all shakes out. 25% chance for us all, maybe. Wish me luck.”
Hooper can then be seen warming up on the Circus dumbbells before the first event of the contest’s final day. He was greeted by 2019 World’s Strongest Man Martins Licis, as well.
Due to the copyrights of the video footage, Hooper is only seen briefly performing in the event before it cuts to him talking to his family afterward. He tied for first place with Evan Singleton as the only competitors to lift the 140.4-kilogram (309-pound) dumbbell.
The video then cuts to Hooper resting and talking to the camera after the Truck Pull, where he placed first by beating his nearest competitors by more than two seconds. Even though the title was now clearly in Hooper’s sights at this point in the competition due to his points on the leaderboard, he said that he was assuming nothing until the last event was over.
Trying to coax a reply from Hooper, the cameraperson asked, “If you were to predict how you’re going to do on the stones, where do you think you’re going to fare?” Hooper’s reply was a humble dismissal of the fact that, to that point, he had placed first in eight of the 10 previous events.
“Not going to do that. Not worried about it. Just gotta go have a clean, smooth run. Get through them. There’s a lot of really good stone lifters here so, anything could happen … We’ll see how it goes.”
The video then shows Hooper and previous champion Tom Stoltman making their entrances to the Atlas Stones area, where Hooper would clinch the title by finishing in second place in the event. The camera then shows his family reacting to the moment he won the title followed by his wife hugging him in celebration while Hooper held the trophy.
He is also shown taking photos, doing interviews, speaking with 2017 World’s Strongest Man Eddie Hall, and signing autographs. He signed off the video giving thanks to everyone who followed the action throughout the week.
“It’s crazy. It’s going to take a long time for this to sink in … Thank you so much to everyone who showed their support,” he said. “Thank you so much to everyone who supports the sport and to everyone who came before me. Really, really cool and incredibly humbling experience that I’ll have trouble putting into words for awhile.”
Hooper is the first athlete from Canada to win the World’s Strongest Man title. He is also the first man to have won both the Arnold Strongman Classic and the World’s Strongest Man in the same year since Hafthor Björnsson pulled off the feat in 2018.
Featured Image: Mitchell Hooper / YouTube
