The competition (which has been also referred to as 'Arnold's Strength Summit' and 'Arnold's Strongest Man' in the past) is one of the many offshoots of the Arnold festival. The Arnold Sports Festival, founded in 1989 as the
Arnold Classic and named after
Arnold Schwarzenegger, was originally a bodybuilding contest only. However, the event expanded to include other sports and events, one of which was Strongman, introduced in 2002. It was specifically designed by
Terry Todd at the request of Schwarzenegger to select the actual strongest strongman based on straightforward tests of brute strength. The inaugural head judge was
David P. Webster.
Championship history 2002 The inaugural competition, which was called the 'Arnold Strongman Challenge', was won by
Mark Henry of the USA over
Svend Karlsen of Norway and
Phil Pfister of the USA. Henry won the Apollon's wheels,
Andy Bolton won the deadlift,
Raimonds Bergmanis won the Hummer push while Pfister won the timber carry. Competitors were also given the opportunity to attempt the
Thomas Inch dumbbell outside of the competition and Henry took the win by lifting it up to chest height.
2003 2003 was the beginning of Lithuania's
Žydrūnas Savickas's dominant reign of the competition. Karlsen emerged second, while Bergmanis secured third. Savickas won Apollon's wheels and timber carry while Karlsen won medicine ball toss. The Hummer tire deadlift was introduced and was won by
Brad Gillingham. The competition was called 'Arnold's Strength Summit'.
2004 Savickas won his second title over Karlsen and Bergmanis. The competition was called 'Arnold's Strongest Man' and 5 events were tested. It was also the first year a 10 man lineup was selected over the initial 8 man lineup from the previous two years. Savickas secured the wins in Apollon's wheels, medicine ball toss and timber carry. Karlsen won the hammer lift while
Mark Philippi won the Hummer tire deadlift.
2005 For the second year, the competition was called 'Arnold's Strongest Man' and Savickas secured his third title over
Vasyl Virastyuk of Ukraine and
Glenn Ross of Northern Ireland. 6 events were tested for the first time where Savickas won the Apollon's wheels and shared the medicine ball toss world record with
Magnus Samuelsson. Ross won the Hummer tire deadlift, and shared the dumbbell press win with
Brian Siders and
Hugo Girard.
Van Hatfield won the hammer lift while Philippi won the timber carry.
2006 In 2006, the competition took its default name 'Arnold Strongman Classic' and it was won by Savickas for the fourth time over Virastyuk and
Mikhail Koklyaev of Russia. Savickas raised the Apollon's wheels world record to 8 reps, won the super yoke, and shared the dumbbell win with Koklyaev and Pfister. Siders won the Hummer tire deadlift while
Benedikt Magnússon won the timber carry.
2007 Savickas won his fifth title over Virastyuk and
Andrus Murumets of Estonia. He equaled his Apollon's wheels world record from last year and also won the Hummer tire deadlift and super yoke. The
Manhood Stone was introduced for the first time and it was won by Steve MacDonald. Virastyuk won the dumbbell press and Murumets broke the timber carry world record.
2008 Savickas won his sixth consecutive title while winning Manhood Stone He also broke the dumbbell press world record. Koklyaev won the Hummer tire deadlift and took the overall second place.
Travis Ortmayer of USA won Manhood stone and took overall third.
Ervin Katona won the timber carry,
Vidas Blekaitis won the super yoke and Siders equaled Savickas' Apollon's wheels world record.
2010 Poundstone, having broken another dumbbell press world record and won the timber carry to win his second consecutive title over returned Savickas and Ortmayer. Savickas won the Hummer tire deadlift and established a new world record in the Axle.
Brian Shaw of USA won the Manhood Stone after a close battle with Poundstone and Ortmayer. The number of events was reduced to 5.
2011 Just days before the 2011 contest, Poundstone was forced to withdraw due to injury and Brian Shaw became the fourth man to win the title. He broke the Manhood stones world record, shared the Hummer tire deadlift win with Savickas and won the timber carry.
Mike Jenkins of USA won dumbbell press and secured second place. Savickas broke another Axle world record and secured third.
2012 Mike Jenkins held off Poundstone to become the fifth man to win the title. He broke dumbbell press world record and won both timber carry and the newly introduced Austrian Oak. Poundstone's consistency won him second place and Savickas secured third place after winning the Hummer tire deadlift and Axle (cleans only).
2013 The number of events were reduced to 4, and Lithuania's
Vytautas Lalas became the sixth man to win the title. He also won the dumbbell press.
Krzysztof Radzikowski won the Austrian Oak. Overall runner-up Shaw broke another Manhood stones world record and shared the Hummer tire deadlift world record with
Mark Felix. Another consistent performance earned Koklyaev the overall third.
2014 The 5 event format was brought back and Savickas won his seventh title. He won the Austrian Oak and established world records in the Hummer tire deadlift and the newly introduced bale tote. Shaw came second with a consistent performance across the board and
Mike Burke emerged third.
Jerry Pritchett won the timber carry and there was a four-way tie for the win of the newly introduced Cyr dumbbell press between Savickas, Shaw, Burke and
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson.
2015 Shaw won his second title winning the Hummer tire deadlift and a world record in the bale tote. He also shared the world record in the Cyr dumbbell for reps with
Dimitar Savatinov. Runner up Savickas broke the Austrian Oak world record. Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson broke the timber carry world record and as a part of Rogue record breakers, broke the
Weight over bar world record.
Mateusz Kieliszkowski of Poland secured the overall third place.
2016 Žydrūnas Savickas won his eighth and final title after equaling his own Austrian Oak world record. He also won the timber carry. Runner up Shaw broke world records in the Cyr dumbbell and bale tote.
Eddie Hall won the newly introduced Elephant bar deadlift while Lalas secured the overall third place. As a part of Rogue record breakers, Shaw, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson and Burke set world records in Max Manhood Stone, Weight over bar, and double Thomas Inch dumbbells farmers walk, respectively.
2017 Brian Shaw won his third and final title with a world record in bale tote. He also won the timber carry and as a part of Rogue record breakers, broke the Max Manhood Stone world record. The overall runner-up Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson won the Austrian Oak and broke the world record in the
Sandbag over bar and as a part of Rogue record breakers, broke the Weight over bar world record.
Jerry Pritchett broke the Elephant bar deadlift world record and secured overall third place.
2018 2018 marked the beginning of Iceland's
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson's winning reign, after becoming the seventh man to win the title. He broke the Elephant bar deadlift world record, and won both the Axle press and Sandbag over bar. As a part of Rogue record breakers, he also broke the Weight over bar world record. Shaw won second place with a consistent performance across the board. Kieliszkowski broke
Odd Haugen's Tombstone world record and
Mikhail Shivlyakov secured the overall third place.
2019 Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson won his second consecutive title and in doing so broke his own Elephant bar deadlift world record, world record replica
Húsafell Stone carry and as a part of Rogue record breakers, broke Weight over bar world record as well. He also shared the win in Austrian Oak with Kieliszkowski, Shivlyakov and
Martins Licis. Licis broke the world record in the Conan's wheel of pain and secured the second place while Kieliszkowski broke the Odd Haugen's Tombstone world record and secured the third place.
2020 Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson won his third consecutive title becoming only the second man since Savickas to do so. He won the Elephant bar deadlift and the Sandbag over bar and held off Kieliszkowski who won trial by Stone, wheel of pain and established world records in Max Cyr Dumbbell and timber carry to second place. With another consistent performance, Licis secured the third place. As a part of Rogue record breakers,
Tom Stoltman broke the Max Manhood Stone world record.
2021 The competition was not held for the first and only time in its history due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
2022 America's Martins Licis became the eighth man to win the title. He won the Odd Haugen's Tombstone and stayed consistent across the board. Ukraine's
Oleksii Novikov came second place and broke the dumbbell press world record.
JF Caron established a new world record in the Double-T Squat while
Luke Stoltman and
Bobby Thompson shared the third place.
2023 Canada's
Mitchell Hooper became the ninth man to win the title, and the first man to win without winning a single event. Runner-up Kieliszkowski won wheel of pain, timber carry and established a new world record in
Steinstossen. Thompson emerged third with a win in briefed deadlift and
Trey Mitchell won the Austrian Oak.
2024 Hooper won his second title with wins in timber carry, Axle and a world record replica
Dinnie Stones carry.
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson returned after a three-year hiatus and won the Elephant bar deadlift event. Kieliszkowski won the Stones of Strength and secured second place, while
Tom Stoltman emerged third.
2025 Hooper won his third consecutive title becoming only the third man since Björnsson to do so. He won the Timber Carry. American
Lucas Hatton won the Overhead Medley and Behind the Neck Press and secured second place on his debut at the competition. Björnsson emerged third and won the Elephant bar Deadlift and Carry and Drag.
Austin Andrade won the Stone to Shoulder.
2026 Hooper won his fourth consecutive title becoming only the second man since Savickas to do so. He won the Deadlift and Dumbell. Andrade emerged second and won the Tombstone.
Martins Licis won the Carry and Drag and secured third place on his return to the competition. Mitchell won the Log Press and Nick Guardione won the Loading Race. == Championship breakdown ==