What a year has this been for Martins Licis. He broke his own Steinborn squat record, he placed first in Conan’s Wheel discipline at Arnold Strongman, finishing 2nd overall and now he’s officially the World’s Strongest Man. Beating The Mountain, Mateusz Kieliszkowski, Brian Shaw and many other top tier Strongman athletes to become this year’s champ.
The champ has been mostly silent and enjoying the spotlight since winning the World’s Strongest Man title but today he took to Instagram to share his happiness and joy with his fans.
WORLDS STRONGEST MAN! What a monumental battle! It feels as if my entire life has lead up to this moment, and I’m now looking at a new horizon of possibility… There’s many people I need to thank, so this will take a few posts. 🙏
This year, two phenomenal people became glued to my hips along my Strongman journey; @romarkweiss and @lindseybowenn !
This last December, Romark pushed (really gave me no choice), to begin creating YouTube videos together, leading up to The Arnold Classic Ohio! Very soon after, with the intention of learning Editing from Romark, Lindsey became a key player, and the three of us became a unit! 💪
THANK YOU Romark, for your tenacity, creativity, and work ethic of a machine. You were the spark that got us going this year; you believed in me, and devoted all your focus, time and energy to create something wonderful together. You’ve helped manage me, motivate me, and keep me on track! –
And THANK YOU Lindsey, for your bravery in jumping into the foreign World of Strongman, for having the heart to so quickly become one of my closest friends, to care for me during hard times and check in on me, for organizing, answering emails, doing a thousand things behind the scenes, supplying us with incredible filming equipment, being hilarious, and taking on the character of Lindsey (the mightiest average girl In the World).
In addition to that, when it came time for battle, you stepped up as the best handler I could ask for; you memorized my equipment like the back of your hand, packed it/unpacked it, washed it/ dried it, measured out my rest times perfectly leading up to events, wrapped my knees like a pro, kept me fed, cooled, and focused (and so much more)!
And you Romark, were out in the sun, baking, filming for our channel! Helped keep me grounded, and reminded me of WHO I AM! MARTINS! After every event, you would remind me to raise my fist and yell my name!
You were the one that reminded me how important the fans and people were that came for us. You pushed me back into the crowd to connect with people and compete for a bigger purpose than just myself. THANK YOU INFINITELY to you both for your stand in this journey. Were only getting started!
Now comes the hard part, defending the crown. Thor getting injured, played a significant role in Martins’ placing at WSM, obviously. Then there’s Martin’s friend and rival, the Polish monster, Mateusz who is breathing down everyone’s neck and continues to place in the top 3 in each contest he enters. Then there’s veteran Brian Shaw, who won’t leave Strongman just yet, and the Michael Jordan of Strongman, Big Z is planning another crack at the WSM title run next year. So again, congrats to Martins, well deserved. Now let’s see you defend that title next year.
Published: 20 June, 2019 | 10:45 AM EDT
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