2025 World’s Strongest Man Finals — Day One Results

The 2025 World’s Strongest Man Finals Day One took place on May 17th in Sacramento, California. The second stage of the competition unfolds with 10 of the world’s most powerful athletes taking on another set of events in an attempt to get closer to the title. Well, the first day saw some surprising results occur, with the rookie, Rayno Nel, taking the overall lead.

Although the majority of the community believed that the WSM would once again be a two-man race for the title between Mitchell Hooper and Tom Stoltman. That is simply not the case. Instead, Rayno Nel shook up the leaderboards, taking the overall lead after day one, beating both former champions, as well as all other competitors.

Rayno Nel won the first event and followed it up with second place finishes in the deadlift and Hercules hold events. He ended the day with a total of 36 points, beating Hooper by seven points and Tom Stoltman by a staggering nine points. So, after just one day of competition, Rayno made himself the biggest favorite to take home the 2025 World’s Strongest Man title.

2025 World’s Strongest Man Results — Finals Day One

Rayno Nel — 36 points
Mitchell Hooper — 29 points
Tom Stoltman — 27 points
Paddy Haynes — 26 points
Ondrej Fojtu — 20 points
Trey Mitchell — 20 points
Eddie Williams — 18.5 points
Shane Flowers — 17 points
Luke Stoltman — 14 points
Pavlo Kordiyaka — 12.5 points

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tom Stoltman (The Albatross) (@tomstoltmanofficial)

Event One — Knaack Carry & Hoist

The opening event of the 2025 World’s Strongest Man was the Knaack Carry & Hoist. It started off with a 250-kilogram (551.2-pound) Zercher carry for 20 meters, which is known to be extremely taxing and painful. Once they completed that, the athletes moved on to the 200-kilogram (440.9-pound) hoist for another 8 meters.

Get Fitter, Faster

Level Up Your Fitness: Join our 💪 strong community in Fitness Volt Newsletter. Get daily inspiration, expert-backed workouts, nutrition tips, the latest in strength sports, and the support you need to reach your goals. Subscribe for free!

Rayno Nel put up a surprising start to the finals, beating athletes who were considered heavy favorites coming into the competition. His background in rugby clearly played a big role, allowing him to move at incredible speeds while carrying massive loads. Moreover, his conditioning proved to be at an impressive level, seeing that Rayno was not out of breath at any point of the event despite how difficult the task was. He ended with a time of 30.58 seconds, which was more than enough to take the event win.

The defending champion, Tom Stoltman, made sure not to drop too many points by finishing in second place. He went head-to-head against Mitchell Hooper, which proved to be quite an intense duel. Both men moved at roughly the same speed, but Tom turned out to have the faster time after a frame-by-frame review. Tom’s time came out to 34.49 seconds.

Mitchell Hooper was the best performer in the qualifying stage of the 2025 World’s Strongest Man and hoped to continue moving at the same pace in the finals as well. However, he had to settle for third place at the start of the second stage, having lost to both Rayno Nel and Tom Stoltman. Mitchell finished the event in 35.47 seconds, which was still enough to beat the remaining seven athletes.

Rayno Nel — 30.58 seconds
Tom Stoltman — 34.49 seconds
Mitchell Hooper — 35.47 seconds
Paddy Haynes — 36.97 seconds
Pavlo Kordiyaka — 37.42 seconds
Eddie Williams — 38.11 seconds
Ondrej Fojtu — 40.95 seconds
Luke Stoltman — 45.58 seconds
Trey Mitchell — 49.38 seconds
Shane Flowers — 8.6 meters

Event Two — Deadlift

The second event of the 2025 World’s Strongest Man was the deadlift. However, in this instance, the variation used was the 18-inch Deadlift for max weight. So, all athletes had multiple attempts to establish a one rep max. That being said, each Strongman’s goal was to pull more weight than the remaining competitors.

The only USA representative in the finals of the 2025 World’s Strongest Man, Trey Mitchell, did not have to wait long to secure an event win. He took the victory in the second challenge of the day, the 18-inch deadlift, by being the only man to lock out half a ton. Interestingly, although he does not usually use deadlift suits, Trey put one on for the event. This, combined with him being potentially the most powerful raw deadlifter in the world, allowed him to take a comfortable win.

Rayno Nel followed up the win from the first event with an impressive second-place finish on the deadlift. By locking out 490 kilograms (1,080.3 pounds), Rayno managed to get away from a five-way tie, thus officially taking the lead in the overall standings.

Surprisingly, Mitchell Hooper and Tom Stoltman were among multiple athletes tied in the tie for third place. Both were unable to lock out the 490-kilogram (1,080.3-pound) deadlift, which came as a shock to many. So, they lost out on a significant number of points, allowing Rayno Nel to gain a substantial lead.

Trey Mitchell — 500 kilograms
Rayno Nel — 490 kilograms
Tom Stoltman — 465 kilograms
Mitchell Hooper — 465 kilograms
Paddy Haynes — 465 kilograms
Ondrej Fojtu — 465 kilograms
Shane Flowers — 465 kilograms
Pavlo Kordiyaka — 435 kilograms
Eddie Williams — 435 kilograms
Luke Stoltman — 402 kilograms

Event Three — Hercules Hold

The last event of 2025 World’s Strongest Man Finals day one was the Hercules Hold. It is one of the most iconic tests of grip strength, as the athletes have the task of holding two giant pillars for as long as possible. The weight of each pillar came out to 159 kilograms (350.2 pounds) showing just how strong the competitors are.

Eddie Williams won the last event on the first day of finals, making it look much easier than it really was. He maintained a smile on his face while holding the insanely heavy implements, showing why he truly deserved the spot in the finals of the 2025 World’s Strongest Man. Eddie managed to hold the pillars for one minute and 22 seconds to take the event win.

Making the potentially greatest debut in the history of the World’s Strongest Man, Rayno Nel once again finished in second place. He was the only other man apart from Eddie Williams to exceed the one-minute mark, thus adding an additional nine points to his overall tally. Paddy Haynes came just 0.36 seconds short of 60 seconds, which was enough to secure him third place.

The Hercules Hold was another event that saw some unforeseen performances, as both Mitchell Hooper and Tom Stoltman placed much lower than they hoped to. Hooper finished in sixth place, while Tom had to settle for eighth place.