The 2023 Giants Live World Tour Finals took place on October 21st at a jam-packed arena in Glasgow, Scotland. While all of the 12 competitors received some support, the large majority of fans cheered on the Scotland duo, the Stoltman brothers. Tom Stoltman, the younger of the two, was obviously motivated by the support of his fellow citizens watching from the stands. So Tom ended up taking the victory in what turned out to be one of his greatest performances in the past few years.
Tom Stoltman came in looking bigger than ever before, and his gargantuan muscular physique made it clear that he would put up a never-before-seen display of strength. With five events comprising the entire competition, Tom managed to win three of them and place in the top five on the other two events as well. Thus, Tom finished the day with 54.5 points out of the possible 60.
2023 Giants Live World Tour Finals Results
- Tom Stoltman — 54.5 points
- Mathew Ragg — 51.5 points
- Mitchell Hooper — 46 points
- Pavlo Kordiyaka — 42.5 points
- Luke Stoltman — 40.5 points
- Gavin Bilton — 34 points
- Ondřej Fojtů — 27.5 points
- Tyler Cotton — 22 points
- Pa O’Dwyer — 22 points
- Eddie Williams — 21 points
- Conor Curran — 16.5 points
- Evans Aryee — 6 points (Withdrew after second event)
Related: 2023 World Strongman Championships Results — Aivars Šmaukstelis Defends His Title
Event One — Max Log Lift
The first event of the 2023 Giants Live World Tour Finals was one of the most basic tests of strength. The athletes had to take turns lifting progressively heavier logs and ended up establishing their one-rep max. They had to achieve the full lockout on the overhead press, after which they were given a signal from the judge that the lift was accepted.
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Tom Stoltman has often displayed incredible shoulder strength, but the first event of the 2023 Giants Live World Tour finals featured one of his greatest performances yet. He was the only man to successfully overhead press a 210-kilogram (463-pound) Log, thus claiming maximum points. This already put him 2.5 points ahead of the others, as multiple men tied for second place and had to share the points.
Hooper, Kordiyaka, Luke Stoltman, and Cotton all locked out 200 kilograms (440.9 pounds), but none managed to go heavier. So, there was no way to separate their efforts, meaning each one earned 9.5 points.
It is also worth mentioning that Cheick “Iron Biby” Sanou joined the men and set a new 230-kilogram (507.1-pound) Log Lift World Record. However, he only came for the record, not to compete. So, he was not included in the leaderboards.
- Tom Stoltman — 210 kilograms
- Mitchell Hooper — 200 kilograms
- Pavlo Kordiyaka — 200 kilograms
- Luke Stoltman — 200 kilograms
- Tyler Cotton — 200 kilograms
- Mathew Ragg — 186 kilograms
- Ondřej Fojtů — 186 kilograms
- Gavin Bilton — 170 kilograms
- Eddie Williams — 170 kilograms
- Evans Aryee — 170 kilograms
- Pa O’Dwyer — No Lift
- Conor Curran — No Lift
Event Two — Sandbag Steeplechase
The Sandbag Steeplechase has been featured in quite a few Giants Live competitions recently, which now include the World Tour Finals. It tasked the athletes with picking up, carrying, and throwing two 150-kilogram (330.7-pound) sandbags over a pole. Then, the athletes had to go around to the other side of the pole, pick up the sandbags again, and load them onto the platform. So, it was a test of strength, speed, and agility.
Despite seemingly carrying a lot more mass than usual, Tom Stoltman still remained as fast as ever. So, his quick feet allowed him to complete the entire course in just 29.92 seconds. Although some athletes were close to him, Tom still won his second consecutive event and brought up his point tally even higher.
The 2023 Europe’s Strongest Man, Pavlo Kordiyaka, was also incredibly fast, but he still trailed Tom by half a second. So he finished in second place.
Mathew Ragg was the next quickest man, as he finished the sandbag run in 31.41 seconds. He made the sandbags look light and overall displayed incredible progress from his previous appearances.
- Tom Stoltman — 29.92 s
- Pavlo Kordiyaka — 30.48 s
- Mathew Ragg — 31.41 s
- Luke Stoltman — 33.62 s
- Ondřej Fojtů — 34.44 s
- Mitchell Hooper — 34.63 s
- Conor Curran — 35.30 s
- Gavin Bilton — 36.81 s
- Pa O’Dwyer — 36.84 s
- Tyler Cotton — 37.76 s
- Evans Aryee — 38.22 s
- Eddie Williams — 42.16 s
Event Three — Deadlift
The deadlift made its appearance as the third event of the 2023 Giants Live World Tour Finals. In this case, the competitors had to perform as many repetitions with 350 kilograms (771.6 pounds). However, there was a catch: the weight was loaded onto an axle barbell, which is thicker, stiffer, and more difficult than the standard one.
Mathew Ragg of New Zealand once again impressed everyone and made himself one of the most remarkable athletes in the competition. He smashed through the deadlift and locked out eight repetitions. Thus, he landed the event win and max points against some of the greatest deadlifters in the world.
The two World’s Strongest Man winners, Tom Stoltman and Mitchell Hooper, tied for second place. They deadlifted 350 kilograms (771.6 pounds) for seven repetitions each.
- Mathew Ragg — 8 reps
- Tom Stoltman — 7 reps
- Mitchell Hooper — 7 reps
- Gavin Bilton — 5 reps
- Pavlo Kordiyaka — 4 reps
- Luke Stoltman — 4 reps
- Ondřej Fojtů — 4 reps
- Pa O’Dwyer — 4 reps
- Eddie Williams — 4 reps
- Tyler Cotton — 3 reps
- Conor Curran — 3 reps
- Evans Aryee — Withdrew
Event Four — Conan’s Wheel
The fourth event of the 2023 Giants Live World Tour Finals was undoubtedly the most painful one out of the bunch. In this case, the athletes had to pick up a metal beam fixed to a center point and spin it around in circles. The goal was to spin it as far as possible without dropping it to the ground.
Mathew Ragg proved to have the best pain tolerance out of the 12 athletes, having spun the beam around for 845 degrees. This means that Mathew completed nearly two and half circles/revolutions without dropping the beam.
Mathew Ragg did not have an easy task, as Mitchell Hooper pushed him to the limit. Although Ragg won, Hooper also got a great result, ultimately dropping the beam after 841 degrees. So, with just 4 degrees less than Ragg, the second place went to Hooper.
Pavlo Kordiyaka was caught in no man’s land, since his result of 820 degrees was significantly better than his closest following athlete, but not close to Ragg and Hooper’s results. So, Pavlo had to settle for third place.
- Mathew Ragg — 845 °
- Mitchell Hooper — 841 °
- Pavlo Kordiyaka — 820 °
- Pa O’Dwyer — 756 °
- Tom Stoltman — 618 °
- Gavin Bilton — 608 °
- Luke Stoltman — 562 °
- Ondřej Fojtů — 553 °
- Conor Curran — 506 °
- Eddie Williams — 471 °
- Tyler Cotton — 425 °
Event Five — Castle Stones
Last but not least, the competitors took on the Castle Stones in order to finalize the leaderboards. They faced five round stones whose weight ranged from 120 kilograms (264.6 pounds) to 200 kilograms (440.9 pounds), and had to pick each up to load it onto a platform. The fastest time won.
Tom Stoltman has won the Castle / Atlas Stones event on the past six occasions that he has encountered them. So, it was no surprise that he once again took the event win at the 2023 Giants Live World Tour finals. He demolished everyone in this event, having loaded all five stones in just 19.23 seconds.
The incredible Mathew Ragg found himself near the top of the leaderboard in yet another event, as he was faster than everyone aside from Tom. He also finished all five stones, but nearly ten seconds slower than Tom.
Tom’s brother and 2021 Europe’s Strongest Man, Luke Stoltman, rounded up the top three in the final event. He narrowly outperformed Gavin Bilton for the spot, finishing five stones in 37.56 seconds.
- Tom Stoltman — 5 in 19.23 s
- Mathew Ragg — 5 in 28.81 s
- Luke Stoltman — 5 in 37.56 s
- Gavin Bilton — 5 stones in 41.64 s
- Mitchell Hooper — 4 in 19.32 s
- Eddie Williams — 4 stones in 23.71 s
- Pavlo Kordiyaka — 4 in 25.94 s
- Tyler Cotton — 4 stones in 29.13 s
- Pa O’Dwyer — 4 stones in 50.11 s
- Ondřej Fojtů — 3 stones in 42.16 s
Related: 2023 Strongman Champions League Cyprus Results — Pavlo Kordiyaka Takes The Win
Tom Stoltman has been waiting for an International competition victory for over a year, as his last gold medal came at the 2022 World’s Strongest Man competition. He now has three International titles in 25 appearances and an additional two National wins in nine appearances. Tom has definitely flicked a switch in his mind, as he is obviously aiming to win more competitions, apart from focusing solely on the biggest ones. So we will see much more of this from Tom in the future.
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