N/A
Tamara Walcott broke her own World Raw Powerlifting Federation record on Saturday when she successfully completed a 639-pound deadlift.
Per ESPN's Maya A. Jones, Walcott hit the mark on her third attempt at the American Pro powerlifting competition.
The historic moment came roughly 10 months after Walcott set the record with a deadlift of 636 pounds at The Bucked Up Showdown in Kansas City, Missouri.
Deadlift was Walcott's third event of the day after the squat and bench press.
According to Jones, Walcott's first deadlift was just 275 kilograms (606 lbs). The 38-year-old received approval from the judges and increased the weight on her second attempt to 290 kilograms (639 lbs).
The judges ruled that Walcott didn't clear the lift, setting her up for a third attempt to hit the mark.
"I didn't feel defeated because I know I had it in me," Walcott told Jones. "As soon as I found out what needed to be corrected, I was able to regroup. I knew what I needed to fix."
Walcott made her adjustment and successfully lifted all 639 pounds on her third try.
It's telling of how dominant Walcott is at this stage in her career that a new World Raw Powerlifting Federation record in the deadlift isn't even her most successful attempt in this event.
She set a women's world record with a 641-pound deadlift at the Arnold Sports Festival in March.
The first day of the 2022 World's Strongest Man finals is complete, and Ukraine's Oleksii Novikov and the United Kingdom's Tom Stoltman are neck-and-neck ahead of the rest of the 10-competitor field.
Novikov and Stoltman won the 2020 and 2021 contests, respectively, and it appears one of them will become a two-time victor when the competition concludes Sunday from Sacramento, California.
Competitors ran through three of the six events Saturday: KNAACK Giant's Medley, Deadlift and Flintstone Barbell. Sunday, the field will roll through Bus Pull, Reign Total Body Fuel Power Stairs and Atlas Stones. A description of all events can be found through this link.
Here's a look at Saturday's results as well as highlights of the event winners' performances.
Day 1 Results
1. Oleksii Novikov (Ukraine): 27.5 (8 Medley, 10 Deadlift, 9.5 Barbell)
2. Tom Stoltman (United Kingdom): 27 (9 Medley, 8.5 Deadlift, 9.5 Barbell)
3. Martins Licis (United States): 20 (6 Medley, 6 Deadlift, 8 Barbell)
4. Mitchell Hooper (Canada): 19 (10 Medley, 6 Deadlift, 3 Barbell)
5. Trey Mitchell (United States): 18 (4 Medley, 8.5 Deadlift, 5.5 Barbell)
6. Brian Shaw (United States): 16.5 (5 Medley, 6 Deadlift, 5.5 Barbell)
7. Luke Stoltman (United Kingdom): 15.5 (7 Medley, 3 Deadlift, 5.5 Barbell)
8. Maxime Boudreault (Canada): 11.5 (2 Medley, 4 Deadlift, 5.5 Barbell)
9. Gabriel Rheaume (Canada): 6 (3 Medley, 1.5 Deadlift, 1.5 Barbell)
10. Eythor Ingolfsson Melsted (Iceland): 4 (1 Medley, 1.5 Deadlift, 1.5 Barbell)
Source: Official World's Strongest Man website
Notes and Highlights
The highlight of the day may have been courtesy of Novikov, who set the world record in the barbell competition:
He also dominated the deadlift with an astounding 15 reps:
Novikov took first in both those events, but Canada's Mitchell Hooper ruled the giant's medley by finishing in 21.96 seconds, or nearly three seconds faster than anyone else in the field.
Stoltman didn't win any events, but he finished solo second or tied for second in all three competitions, setting up a fantastic duel with Novikov on Sunday.
The penultimate day of competition at the 2022 Arnold Sports Festival was also one of the busiest.
Saturday's schedule of events was highlighted by the finals of the Arnold Classic, men's physique and wellness international.
The Arnold Classic is one of the premier bodybuilding competitions in the world. Defending champion Nicholas Walker announced in January he wouldn't be competing this year to give himself more time to prepare for Mr. Olympia.
Brandon Curry won the top prize in the men's open for the second time in his career. He previously won in 2019, the same year he took home the Mr. Olympia title.
Here are the results from each of Saturday's events from the Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio.
Men's Open Results
1. Brandon Curry ($200,000)
2. William Bonac ($120,000)
3. Steve Kuclo ($70,000)
4. Samson Dauda ($37,500)
5. Justin Rodriguez ($20,000)
6. Brett Wilkin ($12,500)
Pro Wheelchair Results
1. Gabriele Andriulli
2. Harold Kelley
3. Bradley Betts
4. Chad McCrary
Pro Strongwoman Results
1. Victoria Long - 54.5 points
2. Andrea Thompson - 45.5 points
T3. Hannah Linzay - 40 points
T3. Olga Liashchuk - 40 points
5. Melissa Peacock - 34.5 points
Pro Strongman Classic Results
1. Martins Licis - 41 points
2. Oleksii Novikov - 37.5 points
T3. Luke Stoltman - 30.5 points
T3. Bobby Thompson - 30.5 points
5. Rob Kearney - 28.5 points
Bikini International Results
1. Lauralie Chapados ($10,000)
2. Maureen Blanquisco ($6,000)
3. Ashley Kaltwasser ($4,000)
4. Elisa Pecini ($3,000)
5. Jourdanne Lee
Men's Physique Results
1. Erin Banks ($10,000)
2. Emmanuel Hunter ($6,000)
3. Diogo Montenegro ($4,000)
4. Antoine Weatherspoon ($3,000)
5. Choi Bong-Seok ($2,000)
Wellness International Results
1. Isabelle Nunes ($7,000)
2. Angela Borges ($4,000)
3. Sunny Andrews ($3,000)
4. Julia Chitarra ($2,000)
5. Yarishna Ayala ($1,500)
Full results via GenerationIron.com
The field for the men's open portion of the Arnold Classic took a hit leading up to the event. In addition to Walker not participating, Nathan De Asha, Mohamed Shaaban, Rafael Brandao, Akim Williams and Cedric McMillan pulled out.
De Asha and Shaaban had to miss the competition due to injuries.
The 2021 Arnold Classic took place in September after being delayed to the COVID-19 pandemic. A quick six-month turnaround may not have given some of the athletes the necessary time to be in peak physical condition.
Prejudging for the men's open took place on Friday. Curry, Bonac and Kuclo were among the group in the first callout. They were also brought back onto the stage for the third callout, along with Justin Rodriguez.
That foursome comprised the top four after the fifth callout. Kuclo wound up coming in third for the second straight year. Bonac got the most muscular aware for his performance in the competition, but Curry took the top spot thanks to winning the best posing routine.
Isabelle Nunes was part of history on Saturday night. She won the first-ever wellness international event at the Arnold Classic by beating out Angela Borges and Sunny Andrews.
The men's physique competition made a return to the event after not being contested last year. It was open for a new winner because Andre Ferguson, who won this event for three straight years from 2018-20, didn't return in 2022.
Erin Banks took advantage of the opening to win thanks to outstanding conditioning that stood out in the field.
An autopsy has revealed steroids were a contributing factor in bodybuilder George Peterson's death.
Per the autopsy results obtained by TMZ Sports, Peterson's official cause of death was listed as "sudden cardiac dysrhythmia due to hypertensive cardiovascular disease."
It was also noted in the documents that "anabolic steroid use" contributed to his death.
The Mr. Olympia competition announced Oct. 6 that Peterson died at the age of 37.
"It is with great sadness that we report the unexpected passing of George Peterson, a champion on stage and off," the statement said. "Our condolences go out to his family and all who respected and admired one of the kindest men we have ever known."
Per TMZ Sports, Peterson was in Orlando at the time of his death preparing for the Mr. Olympia competition that was being held at the Orange County Convention Center.
Roger Lockridge of Muscle and Fitness noted Peterson was considered a favorite to win at Mr. Olympia before he died.
Peterson competed in Mr. Olympia each of the previous four years. He won the 2019 Arnold Classic Physique Championship.
Tom Stoltman won Britain's Strongest Man competition Saturday from Utilita Arena Sheffield in Sheffield, England.
Stoltman, who also won the World's Strongest Man competition this year, beat a 10-man field that also included runner-up Adam Bishop and third-place finisher Graham Hicks.
Andy Black, Desmond Gahan, Luke Stoltman, Mark Felix, Pa O'Dwyer, Paul Smith and Shane Flowers rounded out the competition.
Stoltman finished second to Bishop at the 2020 Britain's Strongest Man competition. The placements were reversed this time around as the 27-year-old Scot continued his excellent 2021 campaign.
His accolades also include back-to-back wins at the 2018 and 2019 Scotland's Strongest Man events.
According to Tom Sandford of BarBend, the one-day event included five competitions: giant dumbbell medley, super yoke carry, giant axle deadlift, loading medley and Atlas Stones.
Per Ryan Rowe of the Scottish Sun, Stoltman's brother, Luke, took the lead after the dumbbell medley. Bishop was first after the super yoke and axle deadlift.
Bishop, Tom Stoltman and Hicks all shined in the axle deadlift, managing eight reps apiece.
Stoltman took the lead following the loading medley and held off Bishop in the Atlas Stones finale for the victory.
Mamdouh Elssbiay retained his title as Mr. Olympia after being crowned the winner of the 2021 event on Saturday night.
Big Ramy took the top prize, followed by Brandon Curry and Hadi Choopan to round out the top three.
In addition to getting bragging rights over Curry for the second straight year, Elssbiay was rewarded with a $400,000 payout by winning Mr. Olympia.
Payout info via Madison Williams of Sporting News
It seemed apparent during the prejudging on Friday that Elssbiay and Curry were battling it out for first place in the main event.
Both competitors were among the six-man group in the first callout. Nick Walker, Hadi Choopan, Hunter Labrada and William Bonac were the others.
The judges seemed to be settled on Elssbiay and Curry right at that moment, but they continued to go through the callout process for the other competitors.
Mohamed Shaaban, Akim Williams, Iain Valliere, Justin Rodriguez, Roelly Winklaar and James Hollingshead were in the second callout. Regan Grimes, Patrick Moore, Hassan Mostafa and Andrea Presti made it into callout number three.
The judges continued to shuffle those groups around before finally landing on Elssbiay and Curry in the final callout of prejudging. Both bodybuilders went through their poses to set up Saturday's showdown.
Elssbiay becomes the 11th bodybuilder in the history of Mr. Olympia to win at least two overall titles. The Egyptian star joins a group that includes Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lee Haney, Ronnie Coleman, Phil Heath and Jay Cutler.
Heath, the seven-time Mr. Olympia, opted against participating in this year's event after coming in third last year.
Curry, the 2019 champion, has now finished in the top two in three consecutive years at Mr. Olympia.
Hadi Choopan benefited from Heath's absence this year. The Iranian star moved up a spot to No. 3 after coming in fourth in 2020, behind Elissbiay, Curry and Heath. He's finished in the top four in each of the past three years.
The Arnold Classic returned Saturday night after a six-month delay. The annual bodybuilding competition was postponed from its traditional March date this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2021 event had a different feel for several reasons. The festival, which usually takes place over the course of an entire weekend, was condensed to a single day of competition with a total of $412,000 in prize money up for grabs.
Saturday's bodybuilding competition featured 42 athletes competing in three events, including classic physique, fitness international and bikini international.
2021 Arnold Classic Winners
Overall: Nick Walker
Classic Physique (Men): Logan Franklin
Fitness (Women): Missy Truscott
A new men's overall champion was guaranteed to be crowned even before the event started. William Bonac, who won in 2018 and 2020, announced Friday he was unable to make it to Columbus, Ohio, because of travel issues stemming from the pandemic.
Cedric McMillan, the 2016 champion, and Roelly Winklaar also weren't in attendance because of injuries.
Those absences opened the door for some new blood. Iain Valliere had plenty of momentum coming into the Arnold Classic. The 26-year-old won the Tampa Pro and Texas Pro bodybuilding shows in August.
Even though it seemed like Valliere had the momentum coming into the event, there was an indication during the pre-judging that Nick Walker and Steve Kuclo were favored by the judges.
Walker and Kuclo squared off in the final round of pre-judging, with Valliere on standby.
Per Greg Merritt of Barbell.com, Walker is the youngest winner (27) of this event in 30 years:
Fans who will be curious to know how Walker would have fared against Bonac will likely get their answer very soon. Both men are currently scheduled to take part in the Mr. Olympia competition during the Olympia Fitness & Performance Weekend from Oct. 7-10.
The top four in the men's classic physique during the afternoon competition were Alex Cambronero, Logan Franklin, Courage Opera and Terrence Ruffin.
Cambronero, the 2020 winner in this event, was looking to become the first repeat champion in the classic physique since it was added to the rotation in 2018.
Instead, the judges chose Franklin for his first win at this event. He also won $10,000 as part of his prize package.
Franklin is the fourth different winner in the men's classic physique in the past four years. He joins a group that includes Cambronero, George Patterson and Breon Ansley.
The women's fitness competition turned into another triumph for Missy Truscott. The American star beat out runner-up Oksana Grishina and Ariel Khadr to retain her crown.
Truscott's win sets her up to potentially become the fourth woman in history to win Arnold Classic and Fitness Olympia titles in consecutive years. The three women currently in that group include Grishina, Adela Garcia, and Susie Curry.
Ugandan weightlifter Julius Ssekitoleko is missing in Japan leading up to the Tokyo Olympics.
Per Motoko Rich, Makiko Inoue and Hisako Ueno of the New York Times, Olympic officials said they have been unable to locate Ssekitoleko after he failed to show up for a mandatory COVID-19 test Friday afternoon.
Rob Picheta and Junko Ogura of CNN.com reported officials said Ssekitoleko left a note "saying his life in the African country was too difficult and he wanted to work in Japan."
The Times noted that the 20-year-old is among nine Ugandan athletes who have been staying at Izumisano, a city in Osaka Prefecture, since last month as they continue to prepare for the start of the Games.
Per the New York Times, Salim Musoke, the president of the Uganda Weightlifting Federation, said Ssekitoleko didn't qualify for the Olympics and was scheduled to travel back to Uganda on Tuesday.
According to Mari Yamaguchi of the Associated Press, Hiroyasu Chiyomatsu, mayor of Izumisano, said officials "received reports of possible sightings of Ssekitoleko at a nearby train station."
In April, Olympic organizers and the International Olympic Committee unveiled plans for a bubble that athletes would be required to stay in during the Games.
The plan also includes mandatory daily coronavirus testing for every Olympic and Paralympic athletes. The bubble locations include the Olympic Village as well as venues and training areas.
Yoshihide Suga, Japan's prime minister, announced last week that the Olympics would be held without spectators in the stands because of the recent state-of-emergency declaration in the country.
According to the New York Times, one coach and one athlete from Uganda's athlete delegation tested positive for COVID-19 upon arriving in Japan last month, but it's unknown if Ssekitoleko was one of them.
There was probably more drama than he hoped for in the final day of competition, but Tom Stoltman is the world's strongest man.
The 27-year-old won the title Sunday in Sacramento, California, by holding off a late charge from second-place finisher Brian Shaw and third-place finisher Maxime Boudreault. Stoltman finished in second place last year, but defending champion Oleksii Novikov did not even advance to the final round out of qualifying this time around.
It didn't look like there would be an exciting finish entering the competition Sunday after Stoltman cruised through the first day of the finals.
He won the Giant's Medley and Titan's Turntable and then tied for second in the Keg Toss event.
Andrew Gutman of Barbend noted Stoltman's seven-point lead was the largest in World's Strongest Man history after two events. Even after Shaw set the record with a keg toss of 7.75 meters, Stoltman still led by 5.5 points.
That cushion proved critical because Shaw cut the lead to a single point after the Log Lift and KNAACK Deadlift.
However, the final event of the Atlas Stones just so happened to be Stoltman's speciality. Gutman noted he is nicknamed "The King of Stones" and looked the part by loading all five stones that weighed between 310 and 465 pounds in a mere 20.21 seconds.
Stoltman's brother, Luke, finished in seventh.
"If I didn't have Luke, I wouldn't be sitting here as World's Strongest Man," the victor said, per Emily Adams of USA Today. "He is the one that keeps my head up when I'm performing not the best, and he helps me get through to the finish, which is exactly what he did today."
Adams noted Stoltman also fulfilled a promise to win the event that he made his mother, who died five years ago.
"My mom was the reason," Stoltman said. "When I make I promise, I want to fulfill that promise. I just used the adrenaline, and her and my family back home as well. I just put it all up into one big ball and use that to help me get over the [finish] line."
It was that last push in the final event that gave him the title.
