The 2023 strongman season was one the sport won’t soon forget. It saw a number of records fall, some of the sport’s all-time greats retire despite impressive results, and arguably the best year any strongman has ever had.
While there are certainly more than 10 athletes with notable performances in 2023 that are worth discussing, including Kevin Faires’ dominance of grip racing, Mark Felix’s retirement from the World’s Strongest Man (WSM) competition and Evan Singleton’s rise to the top flight of the sport, among others, below are 10 athletes who have been recognized as a strongman in 2023 and their chart-topping moments:
Top 10 Strong Men and Strong Women of 2023
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Mitchell Hooper
Did Mitchell Hooper Have The Best Year Of Any Powerman Ever In 2023? It is certainly arguable that the answer is yes. His performances in the top competitions of the year paint the picture of invisible dominance in the modern era:
Contest Results
Hooper didn’t miss a single podium in the seven major strongman competitions he competed in in 2023. He had a 57 percent featherweight rate that included gold at the three most prestigious competitions in the sport today: WSM, Arnold Classic and Rogue Invitational.
It’s arguable that the Shaw Classic is on the cusp of entering the tier of competitions with the three aforementioned venues, if they aren’t already considered one, and the Canadian won a silver with a tendon rupture. To go from an unknown rookie at the 2022 WSM to the most dominant athlete in the game after only a year and a half on the circuit is crazy.
Hooper’s career trajectory is trending toward GOAT (greatest of all time) status and he’s just finished his second season.
Erin Murray
If you didn’t know who Erin Murray was before, that almost certainly changed in 2023. She was a highlight reel of racing excellence from the first quarter.
Murray struck gold at 2023 Arnold World Amateur Strongwoman Championships in March. She claimed a spot on Team USA for the 2023 World’s Strongest Nation (WSN) competition in November, triumphing over Team UK.
Murray capped off her year by winning the World’s Strongest Woman (WSW) U82KG competition. 2023 has been a star-making year for Murray, who is likely to enter the 2024 Games as the athlete to beat.
Aivars Šmaukstelis
While Šmaukstelis failed to reach the 2023 WSM final, the rest of his year was one of the strongest in what historians would likely rate as one of the most consistent and impressive performances in recent memory.
Šmaukstelis started the highlights of the 2023 season with a bronze medal at the 2023 Europe’s Strongest Man (ESM) competition. The Latvian then pulled off the craziest tear on the Strongman Champions League (SCL) circuit imaginable:
Strongman Champion League Results
In addition to all this material, Šmaukstelis scored a victory in the 2023 World Strongman Championships (WSC). The only lull in Šmaukstelis’ season was a 12th-place finish at the 2023 Shaw Classic.
While Šmaukstelis certainly has room for improvement against the world’s best in tentpole racing, there is no doubt that he is favorite to win anywhere in Europe.
Check out Sinou’s “Iron Biby”.
One could argue that Iron Biby had a relatively down year. He placed 10th in the 2023 Strongman Classic and had to withdraw from the 2023 WSM competition before it started due to biceps injury.
What Iron Biby accomplished, however, continues to push the limits in a way no other strongman could: he broke the log lift world record again.
At the 2023 Log Lift World Championships (LLWC), Iron Biby successfully lifted 230kg overhead, breaking his previous record, which stood since 2021, by one kilogram. The previous record of 228 kg was held by four-time WSM champion Žydrūnas Savickas from 2015.
Altering the record books in one of the most notable strongman events would earn a spot on this list every year, and 2023 is no different.
Pavlo Kordiyaka
Pavlo Kordiyaka had what can only be described as one of the greatest roller coasters in the sport. He started it with a bang, winning it ESM 2023 title, the most prestigious trophy on his mantle to date.
From there, he crushed the group stage of the WSM 2023 competition, and the event breakdown for the WSM Final is favorable enough to claim the leader’s advantage early on. A leader’s advantage is when an athlete competes later in their turn in subsequent events – a significant information advantage over their rivals.
However, in the Reign Shield Carry event, the most unimaginable penalty effectively eliminated Kordiyaka from claiming the podium. He took the farthest distance of any athlete in the field, but a miscommunication with the judge at the turn of the course caused the judging staff to penalize Kordiyaka an astonishing 20 meters.
While it’s clear from the video above that Kordiyaka’s foot didn’t touch the line, he has to trust that the signal from the referee that he did so is enough. However, the judge’s hand lowered, indicating he was clear to turn, only to be shouted back — too late with a 400-pound shield in hand and a language barrier to overcome amid a cheering crowd.
The 20m penalty – equivalent to the full length of the course – was so severe and so inconsistent with the structure of the match that it confused both Kordiyaka and the watching crowd. It cost Kordiyaka six straight points in the standings and affected the rest of the WSM Final.
Despite facing one of the most unforgiving (and memorable) penalties in WSM history, Kordiyaka bounced back to win the 2023 SCL Cyprus event in October and claim bronze at the 2023 WSC.
Brian Shaw
En route to this fairytale ending for one of the all-time strongman greats, Shaw competed in his final WSM competition, finishing seventh overall but securing his record 15th consecutive WSM Final appearance. It’s a record that will likely stand for at least a generation, if not longer.
While Shaw’s time in the competitive strongman arena has come to a close at 41, his impact on the sport will continue to be felt and his presence will likely remain a mainstay in high-level competition. He will also make his MMA debut in February.
Lucy Underdown
Lucy Underdown’s highlight reel at the gym during 2023 could have filled this entire article or worthy upgrades. From lifting 667 pounds, or four times her 680 pounds, both more than her current world record, Underdown became the pinnacle of the 2023 women’s powerhouse sphere.
Underdown’s competitive season began with a silver medal at the UK’s Strongest Woman 2023 competition in May. He improved on this by securing gold at the 2023 Official Games Strong Games (OSG) European Championships in August.
The podium finishes just kept coming. Underdown won back-to-back silvers at the UK’s Strongest Woman 2023 competition in September and the World’s Strongest Woman 2023 competition in December. Underdown is a force to be reckoned with and will likely be on multiple podiums in 2024.
Rauno Heinla
Heinla’s racing season opened with a silver at Australia’s Strongest International 2023. He placed second at the 2023 WSC and won the 2023 Masters WSC. However, his biggest distinction came in July when he locked a new world record 18-inch 540 kg (1,190.5 lb) deadlift at the 2023 Tartu Rammumees ja Rammunaine competition in Tartu, Estonia.
Heinla’s most memorable moment of the year came in a legendary Stone-Off during the WSM 2023 qualifier against Brian Shaw. They passed the sixth and final stone back and forth six times before Heinla failed to make an attempt. Despite having converted the same number of stones as Shaw, the ranking meant that Heinla’s failure eliminated him from the competition first.
At 41 years old, Heinla continues to be one of the most dominant deadlifters in the strongman and remains a threat to the static podium. Expect to see a lot of Estonian in 2024.
Inez Carrasquillo
Carrasquillo competed in two elite competitions in 2023: the 2023 Arnold Strongwoman Classic (ASWC), where she placed fifth overall, and the 2023 WSW competition, where she finished just off the podium in fourth overall. However, neither is the reason Puerto Rican is on this list.
Carrasquillo earned her spot on this list with a remarkable feat of strength that changed the strongwoman history books. In July, Carrasquillo tied the seasons total Women’s trunk world record 145.9 kg (321.4 lb) at the 2023 Rainier Classic in Burien, WA.
Like Iron’s Biby’s place on this list, Carrasquillo smashing a famous world record like the deadlift deserves a spot in the top 10 for 2023 in its own right. Fortunately, the world of strength will see more achievements from Carrasquillo in 2024.
Kristján Jón Haraldsson
Haraldsson is easily one of the top strongmen in Iceland. Win it 2023 Strongest Man in Iceland and Iceland’s Strongest Man 2023 competitions. Since some of the most iconic strongman champions have come from Iceland, including four-time WSM Magnus Ver Magnusson, 2018 WSM champion Hafthor Björnsson and key of WSM, Eythor Ingolfsson Melsted, Haraldsson is historically in good company.
However, the reason for Haraldsson’s place on this list is more than just his impressive competitive resume. It’s also about the epitome of the strongman sport.
Strongman competition often deals with the unknown. Whether it’s odd objects, bad weather — for example, the WSM is always scorching hot while the Magnus Ver Magnusson Strongman Classic is freezing cold — or unpredictable conditions, strongman competition is unpredictable.
When Iron Biby pulled out half an hour before the first qualifying event — a medley — at WSM 2023 in Myrtle Beach, SC, Haraldsson was on standby and entered the competition virtually unannounced. In addition, Haraldsson finished second in this medley behind 2020 WSM champion Oleksii Novikov.
Hopefully, 2023 was just the beginning of Haraldsson’s foray into the elite level of strongman. At just 25 years old, he’s more than a decade past his prime.
Featured image: @e.murray_pro.strongwoman on Instagram
