Wide shot from Britain's Strongest Man at the FlyDSA Arena

Harlequin’s rugby coach, Adam Bishop, was crowned Britain’s Strongest Man on Saturday night in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,000 in Sheffield’s FlyDSA arena, which included comedian Paddy McGuinness who thrilled the crowd with his enthusiasm for Strongman. Bishop scored consistently across all five lifting events to take the title while narrowly seeing off challenger Tom Stoltman who shattered the castle stones world record in the final event of the evening, lifting all five giant boulders up onto podiums in 16.01 seconds.

Both Tom Stoltman and big brother Luke competed, with commentator and former World’s Strongest Man, Eddie Hall, telling the crowd that he thought it was going to be a three-horse race between Bishop and the brothers from Invergordon. Hall was immediately proved correct as the three set the pace from the start.

The event kicked off with the log press, whereby contestants needed to lift five huge logs above their heads successively. Luke Stoltman excelled here and brought the Sheffield crowd to its feet as one of just two men to lift all five logs. Brother Tom lifted four out of the five logs but was made to repeat his third log lift after bringing it down early, before judge Magnus ver Magnusson had given the signal to indicate Tom had completed the lift.

Next up was the axle deadlift, where contestants faced each other head to head to complete as many reps of the 330kg bar weights as possible. Strongman veteran Mark Felix, aged 53, showed why he is a hero of the sport as he put in 10 repetitions of the weight, coming second only to Adam Bishop who lifted the bar 11 times.

This is an image of Luke Stoltman completing the log press at Britain's Strongest Man 2020 in Sheffield

After a hotly contested loading race event, it was in the fourth challenge, the Conan’s wheel lift, where Bishop outscored his closest challengers to stamp his authority on the contest, lifting a strut carrying a quad bike up off the ground and around a pivot completing 792 degrees in the turn. He came second only to Irishman Pa O’Dwyer who completed an impressive 792 degrees. Going into the final event, the castle stones, Bishop was out in front in the overall standings.

“Tom Stoltman is going to win the castle stones so this is where his brother Luke can do him a big favour,” said Eddie Hall just before the dramatic final event, where Tom Stoltman needed to win the event, with Bishop finishing fourth or lower, to earn the title.

This is an image of Adam Bishop being filmed at Britain's Strongest Man 2020 before he eventually won the contest

In the end Tom Stoltman couldn’t have done any more to challenge Bishop, lifting the stones up onto the racks as if they were basketballs, to register a time of 16.01, a new world record. Luke Stoltman impressed here too, finishing second behind his younger brother. But Adam Bishop retained his composure and delivered a consistent performance, as he had all evening, to finish third in the event and first in the contest overall.

“This is a dream come true for me,” Bishop told the crowd who were on their feet cheering the athletes and Bishop in particular.

Britain’s Strongest Man 2020 was an inspiring show of strength and camaraderie as the athletes paid homage and compliments to each other throughout the night. Legends of the sport including Terry Hollands, Mark Felix, Bill Kazmaier and Eddie Hall all spoke about how far the sport has come in the past decade to delight the jubilant steel city crowd.

With Europe’s strongest man just around the corner in April and the World’s Strongest Man taking place later in the year, 2020 looks set to be an exciting year for this crop of British strongman competitors.

For more content, follow us on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and on our official Mirafit Facebook page.

Enter your email to signup to our newsletter

Tags: Exercise Type > Strongman ; Misc > Lifestyle ; Misc > Mirafit Ambassadors