Who is the strongest man in the world? Top 20 as of 2024

The strongman sport involves a series of events designed to test the limits of human strength, including lifting massive weights, pulling vehicles, and carrying heavy objects over great distances. The athletes who participate in these events are some of the strongest men in the world, and their physical prowess and mental toughness have earned them the respect and admiration of fans around the globe. Who is the strongest man in the world?

The most muscular men have come from competitions, including the World's Strongest Man (WSM), powerlifting, weightlifting, and wrestling. The WSM is an annual international event attracting some well-built men on earth. It began in 1977.

Who is the strongest man in the world?

Take a closer look at some of the strongest men in the world, exploring their accomplishments and more.

20. Andy Bolton

• Full name: Andrew Bolton
• Date of birth: 22 January 1970
• Age: 54 years old (as of 2024)
• Place of birth: Dewsbury, Yorkshire
• Nationality: British

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Andy is a British powerlifter who hails from Dewsbury, Yorkshire. He is the first man to lift a 1000 lb. deadlift in a powerlifting competition. The Briton has also won three World Powerlifting championships (2000, 2001, 2008).

19. Mark Henry

• Full name: Mark Jerrold Henry
• Date of birth: 12 June 1971
• Age: 53 years old (as of 2024)
• Place of birth: Silsbee, Texas
• Nationality: American

Henry is an American powerlifter and retired professional wrestler known during his time in WWE. Mark Henry was one of the three-time champions of the U.S National Weightlifting in 1993, 1994 and 1996.

18. Leonid Taranenko

• Full name: Leonid Ivanovich Taranenko
• Date of birth: 13 July 1956
• Age: 67 years old (as of 2024)
• Place of birth: Minsk, Belarus
• Nationality: Belarusian

Taranenko is known for lifting a truck with his bare hands and deadlifting over 500 pounds. He won several titles, including gold medals at the Olympic Games, World Weightlifting Champions, and European Weightlifting Championships.

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17. Terry Hollands

• Full name: Terry Hollands
• Date of birth: 6 June 1979
• Age: 44 years old (as of 2024)
• Place of birth: Dartford, United Kingdom
• Nationality: British

Despite failing to win the World's Strongest Man (WSM) competition, the British athlete has one of the most prolonged consistency in the event. Hollands is the only WSM competitor to reach the finals in nine consecutive years.

16. Eddie Hall

• Full name: Edward Stephen Hall
• Date of birth: 15 January 1988
• Age: 36 years old (as of 2024)
• Place of birth: Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England
• Nationality: British

Eddie Hall has set numerous records, including the most weight lifted in one session (1,041 pounds). Besides weight lifting, Eddie is also a professional actor. In 2015, he was awarded an honorary knighthood by the Queen.

15. Hafthor Bjornsson

• Full name: Hafthor Julius Bjornsson
• Date of birth: 26 November 1988
• Age: 35 years old (as of 2024)
• Place of birth: Reykjavík, Iceland
• Nationality: Icelandic

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Hafthor Bjornsson, also known as Thor, is one of the strongest man alive and is widely considered one of the greatest strongman athletes of all time, having won numerous prestigious titles and set several world records.

He is best known for his success in the World's Strongest Man competition, which he won in 2018, becoming the first Icelandic athlete to win the title since 1996. He also won Europe's Strongest Man competition five times and the Arnold Strongman Classic four times.

14. Svend Karlsen

• Full name: Svend Karlsen
• Date of birth: 6 December 1967
• Age: 56 years old (as of 2024)
• Place of birth: Oslo, Norway
• Nationality: Norwegian

Svend Karlsen is well known for his catchphrase "Viking Power". He broke over 30 Norwegian powerlifting records to cement his legendary status. In 2001, he won the WSM competition and finished in the top 3 in 1999 and 2000.

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13. Bruce Wilhelm

• Full name: Bruce Wilhelm
• Date of birth: 5 October 1945
• Age: 78 years old (as of 2024)
• Place of birth: San Francisco, California, United States
• Nationality: American

Wilhelm is undoubtedly among the most energetic guys globally. During his career, Wilhelm won several prestigious strongman competitions, including the World's Strongest Man competition in 1977 and the National and World Muscle Power Championships multiple times.

He was known for his incredible strength and innovative training methods, which helped him develop the explosive power and speed that set him apart from many of his competitors.

12. Vasyl Virastyuk

• Full name: Vasyl Virastyuk
• Date of birth: 22 April 1974
• Age: 49 years old (as of 2024)
• Place of birth: Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
• Nationality: Ukrainian

Ukrainian Vasyl Virastyuk is the first athlete to claim the World's Strongest Man award and the International Federation of Strength Athletes (IFSA) title in the same year (2004). He is one of the most successful strongman athletes in the history of the sport, having won several prestigious titles throughout his career.

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11. Magnus Samuelsson

• Full name: Magnus Samuelsson
• Date of birth: 21 December 1969
• Age: 53 years old (as of 2024)
• Place of birth: Linköping, Sweden
• Nationality: Swedish

The Swedish-born legend was known for his incredible arm strength. Samuelsson won the 1998 WSM competition and held the record for most appearances in the event (13). He followed in his mother's footsteps by winning the arm wrestling championship.

10. Jamie Reeves

• Full name: Jamie Reeves
• Date of birth: 25 April 1968
• Age: 55 years old (as of 2024)
• Place of birth: Stoke-on-Trent, England
• Nationality: British

Jamie Reeves won the World's Strongest Man competition thrice in 1989 and made it to the podium. He was England's most energic man for nearly a decade in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Reeves is also known for his contributions to the sport of strongman as a coach and mentor. He has trained and coached many of the top strongman athletes in the world, including four-time World's Strongest Man champion Zydrunas Savickas.

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9. Jouko Ahola

• Full name: Jouko Ahola
• Date of birth: 1 December 1970
• Age: 53 years old (as of 2024)
• Place of birth: Hämeenlinna, Finland
• Nationality: Finnish

Ahola is widely regarded as one of the greatest strongman athletes ever, having won the World's Strongest Man competition twice, in 1997 and 1999. He also won Europe's Strongest Man competition twice and Finland's Strongest Man competition eight times. He was known for his impressive strength, agility, and speed, which set him apart from many competitors.

8. Geoff Capes

• Full name: Geoffrey Lewis Capes
• Date of birth: 23 August 1949
• Age: 74 years old (as of 2024)
• Place of birth: Holbeach, Lincolnshire, England
• Nationality: British

British athlete Geoff Capes won two global titles in the mid-1980s, becoming one of the most successful English athletes. He also represented England and Great Britain in Shot Put events and won two Commonwealth titles, two European championships and three Olympic medals.

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7. Martins Licis

• Full name: Martins Licis
• Date of birth: 28 September 1990
• Age: 33 years old (as of 2024)
• Place of birth: Riga, Latvia
• Nationality: Latvian-American

Martins Licis is a professional strongman athlete from the United States. He was born in Latvia and later moved to the United States when he was a child. Licis has been competing in strongman competitions since 2014 and has quickly risen through the ranks to become one of the top athletes in the sport.

Licis is known for his impressive strength and athleticism, as well as his outgoing personality and his entertaining social media presence. He is also a certified personal trainer and has a degree in economics from California State University, Fullerton.

6. Magnus Ver Magnusson

• Full name: Magnús Ver Magnússon
• Date of birth: 23 April 1963
• Age: 60 years old (as of 2024)
• Place of birth: Egilsstadir, Iceland
• Nationality: Icelandic

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Magnus Ver Magnusson is a retired Icelandic strongman and powerlifter. He is known for his incredible strength, technical proficiency, and mental toughness, often employing unique strategies to outperform his competitors in various strongman events.

Magnusson won numerous strongman competitions, including the World's Strongest Man competition four times (in 1991, 1994, 1995, and 1996) and Europe's Strongest Man competition three times. He also set multiple world records in events such as the log lift and the car deadlift.

5. Brian Shaw

• Full name: Brian Shaw
• Date of birth: 26 February 1982
• Age: 42 years old (as of 2024)
• Place of birth: Fort Lupton, Colorado, United States
• Nationality: American

Brian Shaw is an American athlete who has done amazing things an average human cannot do. He has four WSM titles (2011,2013, 2015, 2016). Shaw was also among the World's Strongest Man 2022 competitors, hoping to clinch his fifth accolade.

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4. Patrik Baboumian

• Full name: Patrik Baboumian
• Date of birth: 1 July 1979
• Age: 44 years old (as of 2024)
• Place of birth: Abadan, Iran
• Nationality: German-Iranian

Baboumian is an Iranian-born, Armenian-German strongman and former bodybuilder. He holds the title of the Strongest Man of Germany and a world record for log lifts in the 105k category (165 kilograms). The 43-year-old is also one of the global champions of vegan food.

3. Bill Kazmaier

• Full name: Bill Kazmaier
• Date of birth: 30 December 1953
• Age: 69 years old (as of 2024)
• Place of birth: Burlington, Wisconsin, United States
• Nationality: American

Bill Kazmaier is a retired American strongman, powerlifter, and professional wrestler. He won numerous powerlifting and strongman competitions, including the World's Strongest Man competition three times (in 1980, 1981, and 1982) and the USPF National Powerlifting Championships seven times. He also set multiple world records in events such as the squat, bench press, and deadlift.

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2. Mariusz Pudzianowski

• Full name: Mariusz Zbigniew Pudzianowski
• Date of birth: 7 February 1977
• Age: 47 years old (as of 2024)
• Place of birth: Biała Rawska, Poland
• Nationality: Polish

The Polish sensation has the World's Strongest Man titles (5) more than any other athlete. In addition, he has an incredible record of 42 wins out of 59. Pudzianowski was also inducted into the WSM Hall of fame.

1. Zydrunas Savickas

• Full name: Žydrūnas Savickas
• Date of birth: 15 July 1975
• Age: 48 years old (as of 2024)
• Place of birth: Biržai, Lithuania
• Nationality: Lithuanian

Žydrūnas Savickas, also known as Big Z, is a retired Lithuanian strongman and one of the most successful competitors in the sport's history.

Throughout his career, Savickas won numerous strongman competitions, including the World's Strongest Man competition four times (in 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2014) and the Arnold Strongman Classic five times (in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2014). He also set numerous world records in events such as the log press, deadlift, and keg toss.

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Who is the strongest person in the world?

Below is a summary list of the world's strongest men.

1. Zydrunas Savickas
2. Mariusz Pudzianowski
3. Bill Kazmaier
4. Patrik Baboumian
5. Brian Shaw
6. Magnus Ver Magnusson
7. Martins Licis
8. Geoff Capes
9. Jouko Ahola
10. Jamie Reeves
11. Magnus Samuelsson
12. Vasyl Virastyuk
13. Bruce Wilhelm
14. Svend Karlsen
15. Hafthor Bjornsson
16. Eddie Hall
17. Terry Hollands
18. Leonid Taranenko
19. Mark Henry
20. Andy Bolton

Who won World's Strongest Man in 2024?

Tom Stoltman is the current holder of the World's Strongest Man and Britain's Strongest Man. In 2020, he broke the world record for lifting five of the enormous concrete 100-180-kilogram (220-400 lb) balls in under 16.01 seconds.

The list of the strongest man in the world is endless, as there are many upcoming stars. The world's most muscular men are physically impressive and serve as a source of inspiration for those looking to push themselves to their limits. From weightlifting to strongman competitions, these athletes have proven that incredible feats of strength are possible with dedication and hard work.

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