Strongman will always be a show first and a sport second. Sumo deadlifts make for AWFUL spectacles. No average person cares to see a bar move a few inches.
A fun anecdote I share is one of my first powerlifting meet. My wife was there with me. She’s only ever seen me train. I only pull conventional. Deadlifts start, it’s the lightweights, and EVERY single pull is sumo.
After the third one, my wife turns to me and whispers “Why are they getting white lights? Those aren’t deadlifts”
I had this happen in a show where we used a tire that I’d flipped before. I knew exactly where to grab it and how to manage it the best. Everyone who went before me did it wrong. I went next to last, and did it right, and cut the best time to that point in half. The last guy, right after me, beat me by half a second using the technique he had just watched me use.
Other fun story: At Nationals in 2018, there was a tire flip/sled drag medley. The sled was really difficult to pull, but if you grabbed the chain about halfway down instead of the handle, and lifted the front end up, you could fly with it. Someone did this about 15 competitors into the event, and everyone after that followed the leader. The next 15 dudes CRUSHED the first 15.
Eddie said in an interview with Mark Bell that he could have pulled 550kg (1213lbs) if he continued on with focusing on the deadlift. 500kg nearly killed him, I’d hate to see what 550 would have done to his body.
Haha unrelated but this reminds me that some vacuum cleaners have disclaimers saying you aren’t supposed to use them on a roof…meaning someone has done itp
If one of the top athletes in a sport loads themselves up on so much shit that they end up killing themselves, how big a kick in the nuts does that give the sport they compete in?
