As stupid as this is going to sound. He isn’t that strong. His strict press isn’t great either but he has out of this world power.
I suspect that like Thor it will take him a good 5 years to bring up. He is far more explosive than Thor so he may snag a win in a major contest if the events align.
Lol, I realize why you would say it sounds stupid (how can a strongman not be strong?!) but it actually makes sense. He’s more powerful and athletic than raw strength at this point.
It’s just hard for me to believe that a guy who could manhandle that 410 pound stone so much easier than everyone else in the contest was nearly 100 pounds behind everyone else in the deadlift. His deadlift is at a level that allows me and other mere mortals to think “I might be able to do a deadlift workout with that guy and not totally embarrass myself.” Then you see how good he is at everything else and think “How does that guy only deadlift about 800 pounds?”
Just to revisit this briefly: both Shaw and Thor took pretty light openers in the deadlift (well, if 900-something pounds can be considered “light” in any context). Thor took his second at just over 1000 pounds and pulled it with little/no struggle; Shaw took 1014 and really had to grind and hitch it up (Caron also still had an attempt left, and pulled 1021 successfully). So at this point both guys had one lift to go, Shaw was slightly ahead but Thor’s second attempt looked MUCH easier than Shaw’s.
At this point, Shaw had a choice: either “follow himself” with an attempt at something like 1026 or 1031 (which he had a better chance of making than anything higher, but if he missed, would leave the door open for Thor to know all he had to do was make whatever weight Shaw missed and then he’d win the event) or let Thor take the next attempt at whatever weight he wanted.
Once he chose the latter (which I believe was the correct choice, for reasons I’ll finish explaining in a moment) and Thor called for 1041, then the following two things could happen: Thor makes the lift, giving Shaw one last chance to pull himself together and go one weight higher to pull out the victory in the event, or Thor misses the lift (securing that Shaw finishes ahead of Thor in the event, leaving him the choice to take a lift at Thor’s weight for the event win or just pass and take second behind Caron, but ahead of Thor).
So I think Shaw played the situation correctly. Since he was ahead of Thor after their second attempts, there was nothing to be gained by taking another lift at anything less than whatever Thor wanted to try on his third (i.e. Shaw pulling 1026 or 1031 before Thor took his third attempt would have just given the torch back to Thor so he’d know exactly what he needed to win the event). By forcing Thor to take his third attempt first, all the pressure went onto Thor. But once Thor called for 1041 and crushed it, that appropriate strategy decision didn’t really matter, haha.
EDIT: I don’t think I explained this very well, but I hope it makes sense.
Well explained.
Add to this the entire crowd felt like Brian left an axle rep in the tank (looks like he could have had 4 easily). But it turned out that didn’t matter with Thor’s amazing press performance.
I think this was Thor’s contest right from the bag-over-bar win. Knowing how many times he came in 2nd to Z and Shaw it was cool to see him win his first.
@ActivitiesGuy spot-on analysis of the deadlift. On everything you said. Thor didn’t have to outfox anyone, he was flat-out stronger than Brian. Before Brian even touched the bar on the last attempt I knew it was over. He struggled way too much on his 2nd. I don’t think he would have been successful with 10 lbs less on the bar. He was just outclassed on this day, across the board. Thor was a monster. He is definitively stronger than Shaw, right now. He would have also taken 1st on the frame carry, along with his other 3 event wins, if he hadn’t dropped it 2 feet from the finish. His time was only 2 seconds off the lead WITH a drop. That’s insane.
Shaw did play the deadlift correctly though. he didn’t sacrifice placing with his 3rd attempt, because he HAD to try to take Thor, based on how the points were sitting. He was 1.5 behind shaw going into that event, and had to do EVERYTHING he could to try not to lose ground. Really, he needed to be within .5 points to have a reasonable shot at winning, because of the final event being the press. Which, at the end of the day, Thor also won.
As for Mateusz, the bottom line is that 410 is not the same as 900. lol. Same reason that the guys in the olympics who can clean and jerk 500+ aren’t also pulling 900 lbs deadlifts.
Strongman is hard. 1 event may not always translate to well to another event, depending on what muscular and technical deficiencies a lifter might have. For example: for most people, a huge squat translates incredibly well to yoke. I’ve got a huge squat for my BW, and yoke is goddamn awful for me. The ability to generate power and speed with a lighter implement doesn’t always crossover to the really heavy events.
It was great meeting you, @Basement_Gainz !
I think Shaw played the right strategy in all events - as he usually does.
The deadlift (coming 3rd) and the stone (not wearing a grippy top) hurt but Thor beat Shaw in 3 events, Shaw beat Thor in the carry and they tied in the press.
Thor was the better man on the day, clearly, but I also think Brian has one eye on WSM which will be the best one in a while IMO.
The highlights of these dudes pulling monstrous weight with blood gushing from their mouth/nose is wild.
I like Mark Henry’s comment about the crowd being quiet during Mikhail’s deadlift… I don’t know what it was like live but on the footage the crowd clearly hushed when blood started pouring down his face. I think it was a combination of stunned and concerned.
Meanwhile, Mark Henry is confused at why people aren’t urging him on when it looked like his face exploded lol