}} After recovering from the ankle injury, and inspired by both
Ronnie Coleman and
Dorian Yates, Hafþór trained like a bodybuilder for two years. He was later drawn towards the sport of
Strongman after being inspired by
Jón Páll Sigmarsson and his Icelandic heritage. One day, when
Benedikt Magnússon spotted the twenty-year-old, 6 ft 9 in, Hafþór training, he brought to his attention that a strongman competition was taking place the next day and encouraged him to participate. Hafþór then contacted
Magnús Ver Magnússon and reserved his spot.
2009 In his very first competition 2009 Westfjord's Viking, Hafþór secured a fourth place finish. The champion
Stefán Sölvi Pétursson won all but the second event which was the
Leggstein (tombstone) carry. Despite having no formal strongman training, young Hafþór surprised the field by carrying the stone four revolutions around the plinth, breaking the world record. Stefán Sölvi volunteered to coach the youngster and shared his own equipment and gear with him. With the new found friendship, Hafþór kept on improving and won third place in both Grundarfjord Viking and Highland Viking competitions. In 2009 East Coast Giant/ Eastfjord strongman championships, Hafþór won second place behind
Páll Logason and broke another world record in the Alfastein carry, with a distance of .
2010 The following year, while training at the 'Strongman Base gym', Hafþór was nicknamed
Ljónið (the Lion) by Stefán Sölvi, because he continuously grew bigger and got stronger, eventually exceeding bodyweight by now. Hafþór won Iceland's Strongest Viking and Strongest Man in Iceland, the third and second highest ranking competitions in Iceland, and placed third behind reigning two-times champion Stefán Sölvi Pétursson and Benedikt Magnússon in the 2010 Iceland's Strongest Man, the main national competition. At the Westfjord's Viking competition, Hafþór also managed to break his own Leggstein carry world record. Taking part in his very first international strongman competition, Hafþór emerged runner-up to reigning
World's Strongest Man runner-up
Brian Shaw by 1 point at the inaugural
Jón Páll Sigmarsson Classic.
2011 Hafþór entered the
Arnold Sports Festival's limelight after winning second place in the 2011 Arnold Amateur competition in USA behind Mateusz Baron, which was also his first-ever competition abroad. He also got selected to
Giants Live and
Strongman Champions League, finishing fourth at 2011 Giants Live Poland and fifth at 2011 SCL Canada. The two federations gave Hafþór the opportunity for international exposure, competing against the best strongmen in the world. After earning a wild card invitation, Hafþór got selected to
2011 World's Strongest Man where him and
Stefán Sölvi Pétursson both managed to qualify to the finals. At 22 years and 300 days, he became the fourth-youngest WSM finalist in history and secured sixth place in his first WSM appearance, including a world record in the
Truck pull event. In the local circuit, Hafþór won Iceland's Strongest Viking, Strongest Man in Iceland and Iceland's Strongest Man, becoming the first man to win all three Icelandic majors and became the ninth Icelander to win
Iceland's Strongest Man (Iceland's most prestigious title) since its inception in 1985. Hafþór also won his first Icelandic Highland Games competition in
Akranes.
2012 Hafþór won his first international strongman competition after dominating 2012 King of the Castle competition held in
Hämeenlinna, Finland. At 2012
Europe's Strongest Man competition he turned up at a career heaviest bodyweight of at
2012 World's Strongest Man he won his first WSM podium finish by placing third behind
Žydrūnas Savickas and
Vytautas Lalas with two event wins which included a world record in the natural stone loading event. Being widely recognized the heaviest and most difficult strongman contest in the world, Hafþór first participated in the
Arnold Strongman Classic finals, held annually in
Columbus, Ohio, in 2012, placing tenth (last place). Tournament director
Terry Todd encouraged Hafþór to keep improving his static strength and predicted that he can win this competition one day. Furthermore, Hafþór broke the
tyre drag world record at 2012 Arnold Europe competition and together with
Jarno Jokinen, won Ultimate Strongman
World's Strongest Team competition held in
Mullingar, Ireland. In the local context, Hafþór repeated his Icelandic majors threepeat, and tossed a keg, over at the 2012 Icelandic Highland Games, thus breaking both
Riku Kiri's and
Gary Taylor's
keg-toss world records.
2013 Hafþór started to compete prolifically and completed 14 international competitions in 2013. Among them, he won 2013 Strongman Champions League Latvia, his third international win alongwith a world record in
Basque circle, and another world record in the arm over arm truck pull at the 2013 SCL World Finals in Malaysia. He also broke the circus dumbbell for reps world record in 2013 Força Bruta competition (Arnold Pro Strongman World Series South America) held in
Rio de Janeiro on his way to winning second place. He also won silver medals in 2013 SCL FIBO in
Cologne, 2013 SCL Holland, 2013 SCL China and bronze medals in 2013 SCL Russia in
Vladivostok and 2013 SCL Brazil. At the
2013 World's Strongest Man, Hafþór won his second consecutive podium finish, placing third behind Shaw and Savickas. At the
Arnold Strongman Classic, he improved his tenth place finish from last year to eighth place and improved his fifth place to fourth at the 2013 Europe's Strongest Man in
Leeds, England. Hafþór also broke multiple vehicle pull world records most notably at 2013 SCL World Truck Pull Championships in
Alahärmä, Finland and 2013 SCL World Finals in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He only did one national competition in 2013 and secured his third consecutive Iceland's Strongest Man title. Hafþór also broke a
Guinness world record in the
bar bending discipline when he bent 4 x iron rods (each with a inch (1.6 cm) diameter) into U-shape in 30 seconds.
2014 Hafþór started his 2014 by winning the inaugural
World's Strongest Viking competition held in
Vinstra, Norway, with a world record in Viking lumberjack tree-sledge pull event. He also won his first
Europe's Strongest Man title. After breaking the world record in the six-piece
Atlas stones run, loading all six stones weighing 100–200 kg (220–441 lb) onto whiskey barrels within 27.05 seconds, Hafþór said "I'm the future of strength, and I'm king of the stones!" At the
2014 World's Strongest Man in a stacked lineup of 12 athletes in the finals, Hafþór came very close to winning the title, when he finished only half a point behind Savickas, and two and a half points ahead of Shaw. He also broke world records in the Atlas stones and
keg-toss for speed events after an duel with Shaw. Shaw tossed all eight kegs weighing over the bar in 16.59 seconds and proclaimed "I don't think that's beatable", only for Hafþór, competing next, to finish it in 16.35 seconds. Hafþór also improved his Arnold Strongman Classic placement to fifth. Hafþór continued to compete prolifically and completed 13 international competitions in 2014. He won his first
Giants Live title by winning 2014 Giants Live FitX Australia held in
Melbourne with a world record in the Atlas stone to shoulder for reps event, and also won the 2014 Battle of the North competition held in
Tórshavn,
Faroe Islands, 2014 SCL Serbia, 2014 SCL Finland, 2014 SCL Holland and 2014 SCL world final taking his international title tally to 11. From 2014 onwards, Hafþór took part in various
Highland games competitions in the USA and broke the all-time world records in keg-toss for height and
weight over bar events. He also broke the world record in the
Jón Páll Sigmarsson stone carry and loaded a Atlas stone for eight reps all by himself at the
World's Strongest Team competition held in
Stoke-on-Trent, England. Hafþór also performed in a
Guinness World Records duel with
Žydrūnas Savickas in
Milan, Italy where they collectively broke seven world records.
2015 Hafþór won his second consecutive
World's Strongest Viking title. In this competition, he carried a long, in diameter, tree trunk, for five steps, thus breaking a legendary 1,000-year-old world record, set by the Viking
Orm Storolfsson, who was said to have carried it for three steps. He also broke the Viking boat pull world record in the same competition. He also won his second consecutive
Europe's Strongest Man title, two more
Giants Live titles: 2015 Giants Live Iceland (Viking Challenge) and 2015 Giants Live Sweden (Scandinavian Open), and two more
Strongman Champions League titles: 2015 Strongman Champions League Bulgaria and 2015 Strongman Champions League Croatia, taking his international title tally to 17. During these competitions, he established world records in car deadlift, deadlift ladder, wheelbarrow carry,
mooring-bitt carry, keg toss, 160–200 kg (353–441 lb) Atlas stones run, Basque circle, and several bus and truck pull events. At the
2015 World's Strongest Man he secured his fourth consecutive podium finish, placing third behind Shaw and Savickas. He was the only man to topple all 3 Norse hammers for a new world record with the final hammer weighing . Despite breaking the Timber carry world record with worth of barn timber carried on a 40 feet inclined ramp in 10.15 seconds, Hafþór dropped to seventh place at the Arnold Strongman Classic due to a costly mistake in weight selections for the hummer tyre deadlift. At the 2015
World's Strongest Team competition, Hafþór and
Matjaz Belsak who competed as team 'Vikings' emerged champions over team Saxons (
Mark Felix and
Eddie Hall), team Yankees (
Mike Burke and
Jerry Pritchett) and five more teams.
2016 Hafþór climbed back to fifth spot at the Arnold Strongman Classic in Columbus, Ohio and managed to win 2016 Arnold Pro Strongman World Series Australia, 2016 Arnold Pro Strongman World Series South America and 2016 Arnold Pro Strongman World Series Africa with world records in human platform deadlift, circus dumbbell press for reps, triple super yoke, natural stones loading and
Thor's hammer one arm lift eventually taking his international title tally to 20. In
2016 Europe's Strongest Man, despite doing well in other events including a world record in loading the five 140–200 kg (309–441 lb) Atlas stones in 18.16 seconds, he made a blunder at the car walk by gripping the apparatus from the center instead of the sides which compromised his balance, a mistake which cost his title to
Laurence Shahlaei. In
2016 World's Strongest Man, Hafþór came close to winning the title and emerged runner-up to Shaw by two points to secure his fifth consecutive podium finish. During this competition, he broke another Atlas stones world record by loading five 150–210 kg (331–463 lb) stones in 26.80 seconds, shared the circus barbell shoulder press for reps world record and also established another world record in the
Aeroplane pull by pulling a plane in a total 25 meter course with an extra uphill on the final meter for 24.90 meters. Hafþór broke the Weight over bar world record for the fifth time at Caledonian Club Highland Games, and in the national circuit, won his sixth consecutive Iceland's Strongest Man title (surpassing
Jón Páll Sigmarsson) and fourth Strongest Man in Iceland title. He also initiated his own training facility 'Thor's Power Gym'.
2017 At the
Arnold Strongman Classic, Hafþór emerged runner-up to Shaw with his best performance in the competition upto this point. He broke the world record in the
Rogue bag over bar for max weight by throwing a sandbag over a bar and pressed the Austrian Oak log for 3 repetitions. In
2017 Europe's Strongest Man after an iconic battle with
Eddie Hall Hafþór won his third title, and famously answered
Bill Kazmaier,
"This is not a beauty contest, this is Strongman!" amidst a
Bell's palsy affected face. He Axle pressed and broke the world record in loading the five 120–200 kg (264–441 lb) Atlas stones (Giants Live heavy set) in 17.54 seconds, one-motioning all the stones. In
2017 World's Strongest Man Hafþór again came close to winning the title but ended runner-up to Hall by one point and secured his sixth consecutive podium finish. He deadlifted 1,000 lbs+ for the first time in his career and squatted for 12 repetitions despite returning from a recent
quad tear. Hafþór proceeded to win 2017 Festival des Hommes Forts de Warwick and 2017 WoW Stronger, taking his international title tally to 23 and during the latter, surpassed
Paul Anderson's power clean and press from 1955 World Championships, Munich with a
muscle clean and press. He also broke the block press world record with and squatted raw for 29 repetitions. In the national circuit, he won his seventh consecutive Iceland's Strongest Man and fifth Strongest Man in Iceland titles. During 2017 Iceland's Strongest Man, he surpassed both
Andrés Guðmundsson's near two full revolutions around the pen and
Gregg Ernst's linear 70 metres (229 ft 8 in) which eluded everyone for more than 25 years, by carrying the legendary
Húsafell Stone 90 metres (295 ft 4 in) for a new all-time world record.
2018 2018 marked the most dominant calendar year in strongman history with Hafþór winning the Arnold Strongman Classic, Europe's Strongest Man, World's Strongest Man, Iceland's Strongest Man and World's Ultimate Strongman, while remaining undefeated. Hafþór defeated the defending champion,
Brian Shaw, and won the
2018 Arnold Strongman Classic, becoming only the seventh person to win the prestigious title, fulfilling Dr.
Terry Todd's vision just four months prior his demise. In the fourth event, he broke the
elephant bar deadlift world record with , beating
Jerry Pritchett's from previous year, to establish the heaviest raw deadlift in strongman history. Hafþór also shouldered the
Odd Haugen tombstone and pressed the
Apollon's Axle and wheels for 4 repetitions. With a near strict log press of which made him
World Log-lift Champion, and an Axle deadlift world record for reps of for 6 repetitions, Hafþór won the
2018 Europe's Strongest Man, winning his fourth title, becoming the second highest ESM winner in history. After 6 consecutive podium finishes and 3 times getting so close to winning the title, Hafþór finally became the
World's Strongest Man in 2018, winning the competition by six-and-a-half points over the runner-up,
Mateusz Kieliszkowski. Hafþór became the third Icelander to win the title, after
Jón Páll Sigmarsson and
Magnús Ver Magnússon. During heats and the finals, he broke world records in the keg drop squat, car deadlift and Basque circle. Hafþór won the inaugural
World's Ultimate Strongman, held in Dubai, in a stacked field of twelve athletes with a silver dollar deadlift, and dominant performances throughout the competition, taking his international title tally to 27. At the national circuit, he won his eighth straight Iceland's Strongest Man, and broke the Weight over bar world record for the ninth and tenth times. Also from 2018 onwards, Hafþór significantly increased his static strength under the mentoring of his strength coach since 2016, Sebastian Oreb, strict pressed , and increased his
squat to during training and during Thor's Powerlifting Challenge. The latter squat was controversially red lighted due to depth, but even with his 2nd attempt squat of , Hafþór equaled
Bill Kazmaier's classic powerlifting total, doing it raw.
2019 Hafþór successfully defended his title at the
2019 Arnold Strongman Classic in dominant fashion and broke his own elephant bar deadlift world record, increasing the heaviest raw deadlift in strongman history to in only his second attempt out of the three allowed and broke the Weight over bar world record for the eleventh time. He also dominated
2019 Europe's Strongest Man with only requiring to load three of the five Atlas stones in the last event, becoming a five-time Europe's Strongest Man Champion. After winning the axle deadlift for reps Hafþór famously answered Bill Kazmaier, '' "What is this, I didn't know I was gonna come here and do cardio!" '' and held the each, Pillars of
Hercules for 55.13 seconds. In his attempt to defend his World's Strongest Man title, Hafþór tore his
plantar fascia during the group stages and ended up being third, behind
Martins Licis and Mateusz Kieliszkowski, thus achieving the longest continuous podium streak in World's Strongest Man history, with eight (2012–2019). Hafþór won more vehicle pulls, stone events, and medleys and loading races than any other competitor in the history of the competition. Among the past winners who have managed to qualify for the finals at a 100% ratio, Hafþór and
Mariusz Pudzianowski top the list, with nine finals out of nine appearances. In the national circuit, he won his ninth consecutive Iceland's Strongest Man, defending the title also against foreign athletes
Tom Stoltman and
Luke Stoltman, thus beating the record of Magnús Ver Magnússon's eight ISM titles. In this competition, he loaded five natural stones weighing 137–212 kg (302–467 lb) in 50.42 seconds for another world record and also extended his Húsafell Stone all-time world record. He also upscaled and relocated 'Thor's Power Gym' to its current location at Dalvegur,
Kópavogur.
2020 During his Arnold prep in February 2020, Hafþór
deadlifted for two repetitions and became the first person in history to deadlift 1,000 lbs+ for two reps. Two weeks later, he deadlifted for an unofficial world record on the elephant bar, also making it the heaviest raw deadlift of all-time. During this prep, Hafþór also incline pressed dumbbells for 7 repetitions, one arm overhead pressed a Cyr dumbbell, overhead pressed a natural stone, and lifted the
Thomas Inch dumbbell. After successfully defending his crown again in
2020, Hafþór became only the second man in history to win the
Arnold Strongman Classic three times in a row, after
Žydrūnas Savickas. He pressed both a Inver stone and Cyr dumbbell overhead and deadlifted raw for a comfortable win. This win took his international title tally to 30. Following a 7 week prep, Hafþór deadlifted at 'Thor's Power Gym' in
Kópavogur, Iceland, while being refereed by
Magnús Ver Magnússon under the sanctioning of
World's Ultimate Strongman, and broke the all-time deadlift world record of held by Eddie Hall for the past 3 years and 9 months. The lift was globally televised live by
ESPN, and the
Guinness World Records verified it as 'the heaviest deadlift of all-time'. After winning Iceland's Strongest Man for the tenth consecutive time, Hafþór retired from Strongman for a brief period of time to pursue his boxing journey.
2021–2023 In 2022, a significantly downsized Hafþór made a guest appearance at the
Rogue Invitational in
Austin, Texas, and broke the
weight over bar world record for the twelfth time, with a clearance of . The following year, and still downsized, he casually lifted in the
IronMind Rolling thunder while visiting
Glenolden, Pennsylvania for a promotional event.
2024 Following a three-year hiatus due to boxing and powerlifting, Hafþór returned to the 2024 Arnold Strongman Classic and effortlessly deadlifted to win the inaugural event. Since he was still recovering from a major
pectoral tear from the previous year, his pressing power was only adequate for the overall fourth place. Two weeks later, Hafþór secured second place at the Arnold UK, after breaking the world record for the raw deadlift for reps event, performing ten repetitions with on a stiff bar within sixty seconds. Hafþór debuted at the 2024 Strongest Man on Earth competition at
Shaw Classic expo and finished runner-up with five event wins from eight to
Mitchell Hooper. He broke world records in keg toss with , and
Manhood stone (Max Atlas stone), hoisting a stone over a 4 ft (48 in) bar for 2 repetitions. During the prep for the competition, he squatted raw for 5 paused repetitions and loaded a Manhood stone. He also returned to the
Strongman Champions League, winning 2024 SCL Dubai and emerged joint-second at 2024 Rogue Invitational with a world record in
Inver stones, one-motioning the 5 stones weighing 125–191 kg (275–420 lb) onto Whiskey barrels in 27.34 seconds. Hafþór also won his eleventh Iceland's Strongest Man title. At SC24 conference in
Atlanta, Georgia organized by
VDURA, Hafþór deadlifted 282.6
Petabytes of data, for the world record of highest amount of data lifted by a human.
2025 At the 2025 Arnold Strongman Classic, Hafþór finished third, securing his fifth podium finish at the competition. He deadlifted raw on the elephant bar and behind the neck push pressed becoming the only man in history to deadlift 1,000 lb+ and shoulder press 500 lb+ within the same competition. He also came second place at 2025
Siberian Power Show in Russia behind Kieliszkowski and won Iceland's Strongest Man for the twelfth time, including the fastest one-motioned 5 set Atlas stone run in history in 15.95 seconds for another world record. At
2025 Eisenhart Black Deadlift Championships held in
Bavaria, Germany, Hafþór deadlifted and broke his own all-time world record deadlift. The lift which was followed by Hafþór screaming '' "I'm the fucking strongest!" '' was performed in suboptimal conditions, amidst rainy outdoors on a faulty carpet platform at 1.00 am, requiring a mid-comp technique change. Due to these adversities, numerous critiques recognized it as the greatest lift ever and it made Hafþór the first and only man in history to deadlift more than 500 kg, twice. Six weeks later at
2025 World Deadlift Championships held in
Birmingham, England, he broke the all-time world record deadlift yet again, this time by speed repping . Hafþór then went on to win the entire Giants Live World Open competition on the same day, dominating over a stacked lineup, eventually making him the greatest Giants Live champion of all time with ten wins. Many experts, fellow athletes and fans widely consider it to be the single greatest lift and performance of all-time and it also made Hafþór the first and only man in history to deadlift more than 500 kg, thrice. ==Competitive record==