The 2022 Giants Live Strongman Classic wrapped up on July 9th with the Ukrainian strongman Oleksii Novikov winning the title for the second consecutive year. Let’s recap the 2022 Strongman Classic results below.
2022 Giants Live Strongman Classic Results & Recap
This competition took place at Royal Albert Hall in London, England where 12 top strongmen went at it over 5 different events on July 9th, 2022. The top three finishers earned an invite to the 2023 World’s Strongest Man competition. It was Oleksii Novikov who won it all and continued his stellar year after winning 2022 Europe's Strongest Man and placing second at the 2022 Arnold Strongman Classic.
Below are the final results of the competition:
- Oleksii Novikov: 54 points
- Mitchell Hooper: 42 points
- Evan Singleton: 41.5 points
- Maxime Boudreault: 38.5 points
- Paul Smith: 36 points
- Eddie Williams: 34 points
- Spenser Remick: 32.5 points
- Gavin Bilton: 30.5 points
- Rob Kearney: 28 points
- Mark Felix: 28 points
- Ken McClelland: 20 points
- Andy Black: One point (Withdrew)
2022 Giants Live Strongman Classic Recap
The day was full of action over the course of five events with some close battles throughout the day.
Event 1: Dumbbell Medley
In the first event of the day, the athletes had to try to hoist five circus dumbbells ranging from 80 kg to 120 kg overhead to a locked-out position for the fastest time.
Novikov dominated this event with American Rob Kearney close behind him and the new phenom Mitchell Hooper rounding out the top three as these men were the only ones able to lift all 5 dumbbells. Andy Black suffered an undisclosed injury and withdrew from the competition.
- Oleksii Novikov: Five | 38.38 seconds
- Rob Kearney: Five | 42.21 seconds
- Mitchell Hooper: Four | 31.46 seconds
- Paul Smith: Four | 43.36 seconds
- Gavin Bilton: Four | 46.27 seconds
- Spenser Remick: Four | 52.70 seconds
- Maxime Boudreault: Four | 69.81 seconds
- Ken McClelland: Three | 59.3 seconds
- Evan Singleton: Two | 13.13 seconds
- Eddie Williams: Two | 18.10 seconds
- Mark Felix: One | 8.06 seconds
- Andy Black: One | 15.08 seconds
Event 2: Hercules Hold
Next up was the infamous Hercules Hold where the athletes had to hold two 160 kg columns with their arms up and out to their sides for the longest possible time. In an unexpected turn of events, the world record holder of this event Mark Felix didn’t even crack the top five.
- Eddie Williams: 72.01 seconds
- Paul Smith: 67.1 seconds
- Mitchell Hooper: 64.65 seconds
- Evan Singleton: 64.04 seconds
- Oleksii Novikov: 58.11 seconds
- Mark Felix: 53.59 seconds
- Gavin Bilton: 52.34 seconds
- Spencer Remick: 52.16 seconds
- Maxime Boudreault: 50.21 seconds
- Ken McClelland: 47.53 seconds
- Rob Kearney: 35.95 seconds
Event 3: Farmer’s Walk
The third event of the day consisted of the familiar Famer’s Walk where the men had to carry two objects that weighed 150 kg each for a max distance within a 60-second time cap. Whoever went the furthest in the shortest amount of time would win. Novikov once again put on a tremendous performance by winning the event ahead of the Canadian strongman, Maxime Boudreault.
- Oleksii Novikov: 63.3 meters
- Maxime Boudreault: 60 meters
- Paul Smith: 58 meters
- Evan Singleton: 55.5 meters
- Eddie Williams: 53.25 meters
- Mark Felix: 52.35 meters
- Spenser Remick: 44.15 meters
- Ken McClelland: 41.4 meters
- Mitchell Hooper: 29.6 meters
- Rob Kearney: 20.5 meters
- Gavin Bilton: 15 meters
Event 4: Axle Deadlift For Reps
Nearing the end of the competition was the Axle Deadlift For Reps where the giants had to deadlift 360 kg to a locked-out position as many times as they could within 60 seconds. Once again it was Novikov who led the pack with 7 reps as no other athlete was able to match him.
- Oleksii Novikov: Seven reps
- Mitchell Hooper: Six reps
- Mark Felix: Five reps
- Evan Singleton: Four reps
- Spenser Remick: Four reps
- Rob Kearney: Three reps
- Maxime Boudreault: Two reps
- Gavin Bilton: Two reps
- Paul Smith: One rep
- Eddie Williams: One rep
- Ken McClelland: One rep
Event 5: Atlas Stones
Last but not least, the classic event, Atlas Stones rounded out the competition. The men had to lift five stones that ranged from 120 to 200 kg the place them on their respective platforms in the shortest amount of time. It was Boudreault who won the event by over one second whereas Evan Singleton was able to edge out Novikov by .01 seconds to claim second place.
- Maxime Boudreault: Five | 24.03 seconds
- Evan Singleton: Five | 25.59 seconds
- Oleksii Novikov: Five | 25.6 seconds
- Gavin Bilton: Five | 27.23 seconds
- Eddie Williams: Five | 34.31 seconds
- Mitchell Hooper: Five | 35.58 seconds
- Spenser Remick: Five | 51.24 seconds
- Rob Kearney: Four | 23.21 seconds
- Ken McClelland: Four | 23.94 seconds
- Paul Smith: Four | 31.78 seconds
- Mark Felix: Three | 24.56 seconds
CLOSING THOUGHTS
The 2022 Giants Live Strongman Classic was a great competition to watch as Novikov proved himself again to be one of the best in the world and newcomer Mitchell Hooper is starting to make a real name for himself after the 2022 WSM. Stay tuned for the next Giants Live production with the 2022 Giants Live Open and World Deadlift Championships coming on August 6th.
Kiel DiGiovanni
Author