Hafthor “Thor” Bjornsson, the Icelandic strongman known as “The Mountain” has officially returned to the strongman arena. The former World’s Strongest Man winner attended the Arnold Strongman Classic 2024 in Columbus, Ohio over the weekend, marking his first official strongman competition in nearly four years.
Bjornsson has been out of action for a while, but he proved on Saturday that his famous strength is nowhere to be found. In the Elephant Bar Deadlift event, he lifted 1,006 pounds to take first place in that category, securing his 13th career win in the Classic and receiving congratulations from event founder Arnold Schwarzenegger himself. I did. (Elephant bars are designed to be longer than standard bars to accommodate the extra weight.)
While 1,006 pounds is clearly an impressive deadlift, it’s not the heaviest on record, nor is it Bjornsson’s personal best. In fact, he holds the world record for the heaviest elephant bar deadlift of 1,046 pounds, which he set at the 2019 Arnold Classic while beating his own previous record.
Although the overall winner of the Arnold Strongman Classic 2024 was current WSM champion Mitchell Hooper, Bjornsson’s fourth place on the leaderboard proves he is still a strong contender. There is also talk of attempting to set a new standard deadlift record in the near future.
Bjornsson originally retired from the strongman world in 2020 to pursue various other physical challenges. He dramatically bent down to shift his focus to boxing, dropped 100 pounds through an abdominal-cutting body transformation, and eventually named fellow strongman-turned-fighter Eddie Hall the “world’s heaviest man.” He was knocked out in the match.
Since then, he has returned to strength sports and set his sights on raw powerlifting records, prioritizing speed, mobility and endurance for an extended period of time before refocusing his training around improving strength and physique. , documenting its progress on YouTube and Instagram. .
Philip Ellis is the next news editor. men’s health, covering fitness, pop culture, sex and relationships, and LGBTQ+ issues. His work has appeared in GQ, Teen Vogue, Man Repeller, and MTV, and he is the author of the following books: Love scams and other scams.