This week, the person of the hour on the 2023 World’s Strongest Man (WSM) in Myrtle Beach, SC, will likely be Tom Stoltman. The 2-time reigning champion seeks to turn into only the third person ever to capture three straight WSM titles. Nonetheless, with a loaded roster and stacked gauntlet of events standing in his way, Stoltman must overcome some difficult obstacles to defend his place at the highest of strongman and rating a legendary WSM victory.

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From Stoltman’s hallowed pursuit of all-time strongman history to the last ride for certainly one of the game’s all-time legends, listed here are five prime 2023 WSM contenders to look at in Myrtle Beach the weekend of April 19-23.

Tom Stoltman

• Most notable accomplishment: Two-time WSM champion (2020-2021)

Stoltman is chasing history few have ever touched.

It’s been almost three many years because the last three-peat within the WSM. Icons like Poland’s Mariusz Pudzianowski and Lithuania’s Žydrūnas Savickas got here near the accomplishment within the early parts of the twenty first century but ultimately fell short. America’ Bill Kazmaier (1980-1982) and Iceland’s Magnús Ver Magnússon (1994-1996) remain the one men to attain this hallowed strongman feat.

With a win within the 2023 WSM, Stoltman would join them. On this specific respect, he can have surpassed Pudzianowski, Savickas, and one other living legend in Brian Shaw. He can have eclipsed every strongman to have repeated as WSM champion, but who couldn’t take it one other step further.

So much is on the road for the Scottish superstar. He might stand up to fulfill the moment.

Mitchell Hooper

If there’s a strongman who seems destined for WSM greatness, the conversation probably starts and ends with Mitchell Hooper. The Canadian athlete first burst onto the scene when he blitzed the 2022 WSM Qualifying Round. While Hooper eventually lost gas within the Final, it was apparent he was a part of the longer term of the game. Ever since, he’s lived as much as the hype and blazed a trail straight through the center of strongman.

Per Strongman Archives, Hooper has qualified for the rostrum in each of his last eight strongman appearances because the 2022 WSM. Furthermore, he’s won 4 of his last five contests, including the 2022 Arnold Strongman Classic UK (ASCUK), the 2022 Giants Live World Tour Finals, the 2023 Australia’s Strongest International, and the 2023 ASC.

Should someone like Stoltman drop even slightly bit off in performance near the highest, it will be fair to assume that somebody red-hot like Hooper steps as much as fill within the gap. Winning his first profession WSM title can be an ideal strategy to cap Hooper’s recent run of sheer dominance.

Brian Shaw

• Most notable accomplishment: 4-time WSM champion (2011, 2013, 2015-2016)

Throughout, 2023 is shaping as much as be an emotional and seminal moment in Shaw’s strongman profession. The 2023 WSM won’t only be his last appearance within the flagship strongman contest — the following 2023 Shaw Classic shall be the legend’s last-ever skilled strongman competition. That’s right: In the following few months, Shaw will lift his last Atlas Stone.

In a competitive setting, anyway.

Shaw appears to be reveling in his farewell tour, and justifiably so. He trained with the five other American strongmen participating within the 2023 WSM and is hoping a recent leg infection is a harbinger of coming good luck based on his past competitive precedent. If Shaw wins a fifth WSM title, he’ll match Pudzianowski for essentially the most all-time.

That’d be one heck of a strategy to pen a final chapter in his resume.

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Mateusz Kieliszkowski

• Most notable accomplishment: WSM runner-up (2018-2019)

The last anyone saw Kieliszkowski in a WSM setting was almost 4 years ago, throughout the 2019 edition. The “Polish Terminator” had just capped a second-consecutive runner-up finish, making it appear his ascent to strongman’s tallest summit can be inevitable within the 2020s. Nonetheless, injuries and their complications would muddle matters for Kieliszkowski. A late withdrawal from the 2022 WSM made it unclear when he’d again thrive amongst among the globe’s strongest athletes.

After a recent 32-ton (64,000 kilos) truck pull in training, Kieliszkowski has professed he doesn’t have high expectations for his official return to the WSM. A sterling runner-up finish within the 2023 ASC — his first strongman appearance in over two years — says otherwise. When the dust settles, Kieliszkowski won’t win the 2023 WSM. The five-time Poland’s Strongest Man (PSM) champion’s (2015-2019) evaluation of his own ability might be more accurate than any outside perspective.

That said, counting his possibilities out on paper might be a large mistake.

Oleksii Novikov

• Most notable accomplishment: WSM champion (2020)

If one looked up the definition of consistency in a dictionary, it wouldn’t be surprising to see an image of a roaring Novikov. Based on Strongman Archives, the Ukrainian competitor has qualified for the rostrum in 18 out of 20 strongman competitions dating back to September 2020. He has recorded seven victories in that very same time span, including a 2022 Europe’s Strongest Man (ESM) title and a triumph within the 2022 Rogue Invitational. Consider Novikov’s WSM title to start the last decade, and it’s abundantly clear he has the pedigree so as to add one other WSM notch to his already loaded belt of strength accomplishments.

Unfortunately, a lat muscle tear might limit Novikov’s capability to thrive under strongman’s brightest “lights.” It didn’t appear to affect Novikov’s 2023 ESM runner-up performance in early April, however the severity of the possibly lingering injury is unconfirmed. While purely speculation, a healthier Novikov might need made it back-to-back ESM victories.

If Novikov is near 100%, he’ll likely be a big player working toward the 2023 WSM title until the curtains come up. His overall health status could determine whether Novikov wins outright or “only” records one other podium finish.

2023 World’s Strongest Man Roster

Here’s a whole have a look at the total lineup of competitors on this 12 months’s contest.

A WSM Battle for the Ages

None of those predictions and insights are to say that other competitors on the 30-person roster for the 2023 WSM roster don’t have a probability. It’s more that the defending champion (Stoltman), the one other previous WSM winners within the competition (Shaw, Novikov), a young superstar (Hooper), and a longtime dark horse in his return (Kieliszkowski) could present one of the best possible possibilities for a win.

When the 2023 WSM weekend draws to an in depth in Myrtle Beach, it wouldn’t be a far cry to see this group of 5 men create fireworks.

Featured image: @shawstrength on Instagram