The 2023 Giants Live World Open & World Deadlift Championships were a two-in-one competition that took place on September 2nd, in Cardiff, Wales. It was one of the biggest competitions of the year, gathering 14 elite Strongmen, who were a mix of already established athletes and up-and-coming talent. After an epic battle that spread out over the entire day, Evan Singleton came out victorious.
Evan Singleton was extremely dominant, winning the entire competition in the second-to-last event already. Having not placed below third in any of the first four events, Evan only needed to show up for the final event, and the victory was his. That is exactly what he did, thus placing last in the final event, but still having so many points more than anyone else that it was impossible to lose.
Gavin Bilton continues to perform extremely well at the highest level, which proves just how much progress he has made this year. After claiming his first International victory a few months ago, Gavin has now placed second at the 2023 Giants Live World Open.
Shane Flowers went through an impressive comeback to claim the bronze medal at the 2023 Giants Live World Open, having had a slightly worse start to the competition than what he hoped for. However, he performed extremely well on the final two events, eventually getting into a tie for third place on the overall leaderboards. Luckily for him, Shane came out on top in the tie-breaker, thus claiming the bronze for himself.
2023 Giants Live World Open Leaderboards
*Graham Hicks, Ivan Makarov, and Jamal Browner only came to perform the deadlift event (2023 World Deadlift Championships).
- Evan Singleton — 42.5 points
- Gavin Bilton — 37 points
- Shane Flowers — 35 points
- Rob Kearney — 35 points
- Luke Stoltman — 32 points
- Oskar Ziolkowski — 31 points
- Evans Aryee — 31 points
- Austin Andrade — 26 points
- Pa O’Dwyer — 26 points
- Rauno Heinla — 25.5 points
- Oleksii Novikov — 5 points
Event One — Max Deadlift (2023 World Deadlift Championships)
The first event of the 2023 Giants Live World Open was the Deadlift for max weight, that is, the 2023 World Deadlift Championships. The sole goal for all athletes was to deadlift as much weight as possible.
Graham Hicks came out with the heaviest deadlift of the competition, having successfully locked out 470 kilograms. However, he was only competing in the World Deadlift Championship, so he was not included in the Giants Live World Open results.
When accounting for those athletes who competed in the entire Giants Live World Open, and not just the deadlift, the first place went to Evan Singleton and Rauno Heinla. Both men lifted 455 kilograms and tied for first place.
It is also important to point out that Lucy Underdown, a guest lifter, locked out a 318-kilogram deadlift, which marked a new Strongwoman World Record.
Note: Athletes with two stars (**) next to their names only joined the rest of the lineup to compete at the 2023 World Deadlift Championships. So, they received no points, and were excluded completely from the points-ranking system.
- Graham Hicks — 470 kilograms**
- Ivan Makarov — 455 kilograms**
- Evan Singleton — 455 kilograms
- Rauno Heinla — 455 kilograms
- Jamal Browner — 430 kilograms**
- Gavin Bilton — 430 kilograms
- Shane Flowers — 430 kilograms
- Austin Andrade — 430 kilograms
- Rob Kearney — 400 kilograms
- Luke Stoltman — 400 kilograms
- Evans Aryee — 400 kilograms
- Pa O’Dwyer — 400 kilograms
- Oleksii Novikov — 400 kilograms
- Oskar Ziolkowski — No lift
Event Two — Dumbbell Medley
The second event of the 2023 Giants Live World Open tasked the athletes with overhead pressing a series of progressively heavier dumbbells. The goal was to complete them in as little time as possible.
The reigning OSG European champion, Oskar Ziolkowski, came out victorious in the second event of the 2023 Giants Live World Open. He completed all five dumbbells in 54.36 seconds, which was out of reach for everyone.
The only other man to complete all five dumbbells was Luke Stoltman, but he crossed the line four seconds after Oskar. So, he ended up in second place and added 10 points to his overall tally.
The fastest man to complete four dumbbells, and the one who finished third in this event, was Evan Singleton. He completed them in a time of 29.79 seconds, which was faster than any of the remaining competitors.
- Oskar Ziolkowski — 5 in 54.36 s
- Luke Stoltman — 5 in 58.87 s
- Evan Singleton — 4 in 29.79 s
- Rob Kearney — 4 in 33.10 s
- Austin Andrade — 4 in 43.52 s
- Gavin Bilton — 4 in 51.83 s
- Pa O’Dwyer — 3 in 25.64 s
- Evans Aryee — 3 in 36.92 s
- Rauno Heinla — 3 in 32.23 s
- Shane Flowers — 2 in 18.92 s
- Oleksii Novikov — 2 in 20.11 s
Event Three — Load & Push
The third event of the 2023 Giant Live World Open was all about speed, as the athletes first loaded multiple implements into a massive wheelbarrow, then pushed it until they reached the finish line.
Luke Stoltman, also known as The Highland Oak, put in a stellar performance and a proper show for the audience, as he won the event and outperformed the second place finisher by just 0.02 seconds.
Evan Singleton lacked luck in this event, as he had to settle for second place with a time of 49.17 seconds. He was unnoticeably slower than Luke, but the fractions of a second meant a lot in the end.
Rob Kearney came in third with a time of 52.08 seconds, which meant a lot considering how quick this roster of athletes was.
- Luke Stoltman — 49.15 s
- Evan Singleton — 49.17 s
- Rob Kearney — 52.08 s
- Evans Aryee — 53.60 s
- Oskar Ziolkowski — 53.80 s
- Gavin Bilton — 55.07 s
- Shane Flowers — 55.13 s
- Austin Andrade — 56.13 s
- Pa O’Dwyer — 56.30 s
- Rauno Heinla — 3 in 49.17 s
- Oleksii Novikov — Withdrew
Event Four — Wrecking Ball Hold
The Wrecking Ball Hold is the newest addition to the 2023 Giants Live World Open, as this was the first time that the event was featured. It is mostly a grip event, since the athletes got up on a high platform where they grabbed a bar that was connected with a massive steel ball underneath them. So, they had to pull the wrecking ball off the floor and hold it for as long as possible.
While multiple athletes held the wrecking ball for over a minute, Evan Singleton’s time of 75.03 seconds was the unbeatable mark. So, with everyone’s grip giving out before him, Evan came out with his second event win of the competition.
Evans Aryee of Ghana also put in an outstanding performance, holding out until 69.79 seconds before finally letting go of the bar. So, he landed his highest event finish of the 2023 Giants Live World Open, as only Evan was better than him.
Shane Flowers finished in third with a time of 65.26 seconds, which made up for his relatively poor performances in the past two events.
- Evan Singleton — 75.03 s
- Evans Aryee — 69.79 s
- Shane Flowers — 65.26 s
- Pa O’Dwyer — 63.96 s
- Gavin Bilton — 63.16 s
- Oskar Ziolkowski — 57.29 s
- Rob Kearney — 48.23 s
- Austin Andrade — 47.90 s
- Luke Stoltman — 47.90 s
- Rauno Heinla — 24.66 s
- Oleksii Novikov — Withdrew
Event Five — Castle Stones
The final event of the 2023 Giants Live World Open was the Castle Stones. They featured a series of round, heavy stones that had to be lifted up from the floor and onto their respective platforms. Since many athletes are capable of completing all stones, those who finished faster earned a better placing.
Shane Flowers was the King of the Stones, having finished all of them in a stunning time of 20.69 seconds. It was clear that his speed was worthy of max points, and it proved to be correct as no one beat him.
The Welsh Bull, Gavin Bilton, finished two seconds behind Shane, earning himself 11 points for a second place finish. The next man to finish the event, precisely 0.13 seconds later, was Rob Kearned, who claimed third place in the final event.
- Shane Flowers — 5 in 20.69 s
- Gavin Bilton — 5 in 22.10 s
- Rob Kearney — 5 in 22.23 s
- Rauno Heinla — 5 in 22.80 s
- Oskar Ziolkowski — 5 in 24.17 s
- Pa O’Dwyer — 5 in 24.91 s
- Evans Aryee — 5 in 26.25 s
- Luke Stoltman — 4 in 16.51 s
- Austin Andrade — 4 in 16.56 s
- Evan Singleton — 1 in 6.88 s
- Oleksii Novikov — Withdrew
Related: 2023 England’s Strongest Man & Woman Results — Patrick Haynes & Naomi Hadley Win
Evan Singleton is becoming one of the greatest Strongman athletes on the planet, which he proved with multiple amazing performances this year. First, he finished fifth in the 2023 WSM, fourth at the 2023 Shaw Classic, and most importantly, Evan has already won two Giants Live competitions this year. So, with a few more competitions left to take place, he could secure some more gold medals.
Published: 2 September, 2023 | 7:14 PM EDT
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