Worlds Strongest Man 2015 - Heats and Events
This year see’s double points in the heats for Atlas Stones (this is to circumvent the leaders of the events taking it easy on the stone events when they are a long way in the lead as the Stone events are always last in a Strongman Competition) which should see a lot of action right through each heat.
Looking at the break down of competitors in the heats, Heats 3 and 4 are going to be incredibly well contested, I have no doubt the double points on the stones are going to play very well into the hands of storng stone lifters like Mark Felix and Zydrunas Savickas. This year also sees a mazimum of 10 competitors in the final, only 2 from each heat. My pick for the winners in each heat:
1: Oberst and Shaw
2: Bjornsson and Savatinov
3: Savickas and Shahalei
4: Radzikowski and Arsjo, if Radzikowski gets hurt, it will be Felix.
5: Burke and Hall
Heat 1
Events – Loading Race Barrels, Deadlift, Circus Barbells, Kettlebell Throw, Truck Pull and Atlas Stones
Competitors
| Poland | Mateusz Baron | |
| Great Britain | Adam Bishop | |
| Canada | Jean-François Caron | |
| Sweden | Martin Forsmark | |
| USA | Robert Oberst | |
| USA | Brian Shaw |
Heat 2
Events - Loading Race Tires, Norse Hammers, Squat Lift, Basque Circle, Dumbbell Press and Atlas Stones
Competitors
| Iceland | Hafthor Bjornsson | |
| Great Britain | Graham Hicks | |
| Poland | Rafal Kobylarz | |
| Hungary | Akos Nagy | |
| Bulgaria | Dimitar Savatinov | |
| USA | Josh Thigpen |
Heat 3
Events - Loading Race Tires, Norse Hammers, Squat Lift, Dumbbell Press, Truck Pull and Atlas Stones
Competitors
| USA | Nick Best | |
| Iceland | Benedikt Magnusson | |
| Sweden | David Nystrom | |
| Lithuania | Žydrūnas Savickas | |
| Great Britain | Laurence Shahlaei | |
| Russia | Mikhail Shivlyakov |
Heat 4
Events – Loading Race Barrels, Deadlift, Circus Barbells, Kettlebell Throw, Basque Circle and Atlas Stones
Competitors
| Sweden | Johannes Arsjo | |
| Great Britain | Mark Felix | |
| USA | Jerry Pritchett | |
| Poland | Krzysztof Radzikowski | |
| Republic of SA | Gerhard Van Staden | |
| Latvia | Dainis Zageris |
Heat 5
Events – Loading Race Barrels, Deadlift, Circus Barbells, Kettlebell Throw, Truck Pull and Atlas Stones
Competitors
| Slovenia | Matjaz Belsak | |
| USA | Mike Burke | |
| USA | Mike Caruso | |
| Great Britain | Eddie Hall | |
| Norway | Ole Martin Hansen | |
| Poland | Grzegorz Szymanski |
Final Events
Super Yoke, Deadlift, Truck Pull, Power Stairs, Log Lift for Max Weight and Atlas Stones
Looking at the final events, Thor from Iceland has a very good chance, with the way he has dominated Atlas Stones and Truck Pulls in the past couple of years, he will be very hard to beat, power stairs will also suit his speed and height. Zydrunes will work very hard for his 5th world title, to match that of Mariusz Pudzianowski, Shaw will also be chasing very hard for his third title, especially after such good showings in both the American and Australian Arnold Championships in March 2015.
My pick for top three:
1 - Thor
2 - Zydrunas
3 - Shaw or Burke
Heat and Event details from the Worlds Strongest Man website: www.theworldsstrongestman.com