Tom Stoltman Wins the World's Strongest Man to Defend His Title

Tom Stoltman is still the World's Strongest Man.

The 2021 winner held on to retain the title for 2022, posting 53.5 total points with consistent finishes across the competition. Martins Licis, the 2019 WSM champ who was returning from a long hiatus due to injury and entered the competition with momentum after winning the Rogue Invitational and Arnold Strongman Classic, placed second. Third place was 2020 WSM winner Oleksii Novikov, with four-time WSM winner Brian Shaw finishing fourth.

Stoltman only won a single event in the Finals, but he was a consistent top finisher, always scoring within the top three places. Novikov won three out of the five events, but poor performances in the last two stages, the Reign Total Body Fuel Power Stairs and the Atlas Stones, pushed him down the podium. Stoltman took the title with a commanding win in the last event, the Atlas Stones, securing his legacy as the first back-to-back champion at WSM since Brian Shaw in 2016. Licis and Novikov tied at 30 points apiece, but Licis performed better in the Atlas Stones event, which was the tiebreaker.

“Even if you’re the best in the world you still have to keep your head and you can’t overthink these things. Winning again is an unbelievable feeling,” Stoltman said after the competition. “It’s my 28th birthday tomorrow and what a birthday present this is.”

If you missed out on the action, don't worry—the 2022 World's Strongest Man TV broadcast information has now been announced. You can catch footage of the event in the U.S. on CBS Sports Network and CBS beginning July 9. UK coverage will be broadcast in December on Channel 5. Full schedules will released in the coming weeks, according to WSM sources.

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