Tom Stoltman has won the 2022 World’s Strongest Man, making him the first champion in six years to win back-to-back titles.
After five days of competition, the leaderboard had the 2021 champion retaining his title with two former WSM champions — Martins Licis and Oleksii Novikov — making the podium for second and third place, respectively. Four-time WSM champion Brian Shaw placed a distant fourth.
- Tom Stoltman — 53.5 points
- Martins Licis — 43 points
- Oleksii Novikov — 43 points
- Brian Shaw — 37.5 points
- Maxime Boudreault — 34.5 points
- Trey Mitchell — 34 points
- Luke Stoltman — 30.5 points
- Mitchell Hooper — 30 points
- Eythor Ingolfsson Melsted — 13 points
- Gabriel Rheaume — 11 points
Tom Stoltman’s 2022 Path to Victory
Stoltman dominated his group in the Qualifying rounds, consistently winning first place through all six initial events, but 2020 WSM winner Oleksii Novikov’s early performances during Days Four and Five made a hard path for ultimate victory.
In the first day of Finals, Mitchell Hooper’s surprise win during the KNAACK Giant’s Medley pushed Stoltman to second place and Novikov to third in the event. Novikov’s first-place performances in both the Deadlift and the Flintstone Barbell kept him one-and-a-half points ahead of Stoltman on the leaderboard, meaning the ’21 winner would need to dig deep in the fifth and final day to achieve a repeat win.
In Day Two of Finals, Novikov took an initial lead during the Bus Pull with a first place win as Stoltman came in third. In the penultimate event, Stoltman tackled all nine steps of the Reign Total Body Fuel Power Stairs, while Novikov completed only six reps and placed a shocking eighth.
The overall points gap grew wider and Stoltman began his eventual drive for the title. In the conclusive Atlas Stones, Stoltman had a commanding first place performance, loading all five stones in just over 25 seconds. Novikov placed last in the Stones after loading only four stones.
By the end of the day, Martins Licis sat in second place on the leaderboard, barely edging out Novikov based on their performances during the Atlas Stones, and Stoltman secured his second title without question.
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With his first win in 2021, Tom Stoltman became the first competitor representing Scotland to win the title. With his second win in 2022, he became the tenth competitor in the contest’s 45-year history to win multiple titles.