Poland wasn’t the only country playing host to a Giant’s Live competition this weekend. The same venue used for Europe’s Strongest Man was used to decide who else would qualify for the World’s Strongest Man later this month in China.

The line-up was strong, mostly consisting of Brits but a few international competitors came along for the ride too:

Laurence Shahlaei (England)

Terry Hollands (England)

Simon Johnson (Wales)

James Fennelly (Ireland)

Mark Felix (England)

Lloyd Renals (England)

Eddie Hall (England)

Graham Hicks (England)

Jerry Pritchett (USA)

Robert Oberst (USA)

Luke Stoltman (Scotland)

Ovynd Rein (Norway)

Event 1 – Yoke

Terry and Loz were always going to be the favourites going into this and they proved their worth with two very quick, very close times. The American snuck in at 3rd and Felix put in an impressive performance showing he isn’t a one-trick-grip-pony for fourth. Ed Hall attempted the yoke before quickly retiring from the competition owing to illness. Ed has already qualified for World’s Strongest Man so fans of the spartan can still look forward to seeing him there.

Terry Hollands – 16.41 seconds Laurence Shahlaei – 16.84 seconds Jerry Pritchett – 20.94 seconds Mark Felix – 24.50 seconds Graham Hicks – 25.31 seconds Robert Oberst – 30.35 seconds Lloyd Renals – 45.19 seconds James Fennelly – 23.30 meters Simon Johnson – 20.60 meters Luke Stoltman – 18.30 meters Ovynd Rein – 14.35 meters Eddie Hall – 1.85 meters

Terry and Loz head to head:

Event 2 – Max Deadlift

With an opener of 360kg and then a huge leap to 390kg this was a pretty brutal event. Going into the competition Terry had shared some impressive deadlift videos on youtube and was looking well placed for good points. However, the other favourites had been more discrete with their training and so anything could have happened.

Laurence Shahlaei – 433kg Jerry Pritchett – 433kg (joint) Mark Felix – 410kg Terry Hollands – 390kg Graham Hicks – 390kg (joint) Robert Oberst – 360kg Lloyd Renals – 360kg (joint) James Fennelly – 360kg (joint) Luke Stoltman – 360kg (joint) Simon Johnson – no lift Ovynd Rein – no lift Eddie Hall – retired

Jerry went for 443kg in an attempt to break the strongman world record but it unfortunately wasn’t to be. Loz managing 433kg means he has broken the British record which he previously held jointly with Terry. Terry will be upset he wasn’t able to lift more, given his recent training, but we’re confident he’ll pull it out of the bag for World’s Strongest Man in a couple of weeks time.

Loz’s British record:

Event 3 – Shield walk

The American’s clearly know how to carry stuff…

Jerry Pritchett – 36.80 meters Terry Hollands – 33.85 meters Robert Oberst – 32.80 meters Mark Felix – 32.25 meters Laurence Shahlaei – 30.00 meters Graham Hicks – 22.70 meters Luke Stoltman – 19.70 meters Simon Johnson – 16.35 meters Lloyd Renals – 8.85 meters Ovynd Rein – 3.70 meters James Fennelly – retired Eddie Hall – retired

Event 4 – Loading race

Graham Hicks – 33.25 seconds Laurence Shahlaei – 34.85 seconds Jerry Pritchett – 35.65 seconds Mark Felix – 37.69 seconds Luke Stoltman – 37.84 seconds Terry Hollands – 39.75 seconds Robert Oberst – 42.59 seconds Ovynd Rein – 46.03 seconds Simon Johnson – 46.22 seconds Lloyd Renals – 56.06 seconds James Fennelly – retired Eddie Hall – retired

We thought Graham Hick’s increased bodyweight (having been a under 105kg competitor last year) may have slowed him down but we were wrong – plain and simple. Hixxy proved speed was still very much part of his arsenal.

Event 5 – 150kg log for reps (60 seconds)

With Hixxy having posted some very impressive log lifts on youtube recently he was the favourite going into this event. But with it for reps rather than max there was every chance another athlete could sneak in and so they did!

Laurence Shahlaei – 5 reps Graham Hicks – 4 reps Jerry Pritchett – 4 reps (joint) Terry Hollands – 4 reps (joint) Robert Oberst – 4 reps (joint) Mark Felix – 3 reps Simon Johnson – 2 reps Lloyd Renals – 1 rep Luke Stoltman – no lift Ovynd Rein – no lift James Fennelly – retired Eddie Hall – retired

Loz winning the log press:

Event 6 – Atlas Stones

Mark Felix – 5 stones, 23.49 seconds Laurence Shahlaei – 5 stones, 34.28 seconds Terry Hollands – 5 stones, 35.59 seconds Robert Oberst – 5 stones, 48.03 seconds Simon Johnson – 5 stones, 42.66 seconds Graham Hicks – 4 stones, 23.69 seconds Jerry Pritchett – 4 stones, 25.78 seconds Luke Stoltman – 4 stones, 44.04 seconds Ovynd Rein – 4 stones, 27.08 seconds Lloyd Renals – retired James Fennelly – retired Eddie Hall – retired

After a day of exciting events the top five stood as:

Laurence Shahlaei

Jerry Pritchett Terry Hollands Mark Felix Graham Hicks

All of which will be making their way to World’s Strongest Man in China. Congratulations!

Credit to Jon Boyles for the photo.