Giants Live was created in 2009 as the official Tour that qualifies strongmen to compete in the annual

World's Strongest Man The World's Strongest Man is an international Strongman competition held every year. Organized by American event management company IMG, a subsidiary of Endeavor, it is broadcast in the US during summers and in the UK around the end of Decembe ...

contest. At each Grand Prix, up to twelve international strongmen come together and compete over six events. The top three at each contest will receive an invitation to compete at the World's Strongest Man contest for that same year. With 9 wins, Iceland's

Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (; transliterated as Hafthor in English, born 26 November 1988), is an Icelandic professional strongman, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest strength athletes of all time. He is the first and only person t ...

is the greatest Giants Live champion of all-time.

History

On April 27, 2009, Giants Live was named the Official World's Strongest Man Qualifying Tour for 2009–2011, thus taking over from the Strongman Super Series in this regard. The first 2009 qualifying event took place on May 17 at the

Mohegan Sun Casino Mohegan Sun is an American casino, owned and operated by the Mohegan Tribe on of their reservation, along the banks of the Thames River in Uncasville, Connecticut. It has of gambling space. It is in the foothills of southeastern Connecticut, ...

Arena in

Uncasville Uncasville is an area in the town of Montville, Connecticut, United States. It is a village in southeastern Montville, at the mouth of the Oxoboxo River where it flows into the Thames River. The name is now applied more generally to all of the ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, and with the second event being the Viking Power competition. Giants Live was licensed the exclusive rights by IMG Sports Media, the creator and owner of the

competition. Previously, the qualifying tournament was known as the IFSA Strongman Super Series from 2001–2004, and the World's Strongest Man Super Series from 2005–2008. Strongman Super Series continued to operate under the title of "Strongman Super Series" in 2009 and 2010, but did not have WSM qualifying status. The qualifying status went with Giants Live and

Colin Bryce Colin Bryce (born 4 August 1974, in Newcastle upon Tyne) is a former Great Britain Olympic bobsledder, Strongman, now working as a television presenter and producer. He currently works as a sports commentator for the BBC, ESPN, Fox Sports, Euro ...

, the Tour's producer. At each Grand Prix event, in common with previous such series, each competitor competes in six different tests of strength with the winner crowned Grand Prix Champion. The top three athletes at each tournament will win a qualifying slot at the World's Strongest Man competition. Along with the

Strongman Champions League The Strongman Champions League is a strength athletics, strongman competition circuit, with several Grand Prix events throughout the year and the Strongman Champions League overall champion title going to the overall winner at the end of the s ...

, this event made important progress in acting as a fundamental part of a unifying movement for world strength athletics by making plans to help SCL get its athletes to the 2009

contest. SCL chief, Mostert, stated that "The top 5 SCL athletes will have places in the Giants Live tour for qualifying at

(WSM) 2009". In addition, he also stated that wild cards for the WSM will include SCL athletes. He went on to say that "Finally we made it all possible again that all the athletes have chances to qualify for the WSM, which means in my opinion the WSM will have the strongest field ever in her history!" He went on to thank

TWI Twi () is a dialect of the Akan language spoken in southern and central Ghana by several million people, mainly of the Akan people, the largest of the seventeen major ethnic groups in Ghana. Twi has about 17-18 million speakers in total, includ ...

IMG img or IMG is an abbreviation for image. img or IMG may also refer to: * IMG (company), global sports and media business headquartered in New York City but with its main offices in Cleveland, originally known as the "International Management Group ...

and Giants Live for their part in making these possibilities. This was groundbreaking because for a number of years prior to this, the athletes under the IFSA had been banned by the federation from entering WSM (since the IFSA fell out of favour with TWI). Likewise, the athletes invited to participate in WSM were not invited to participate in IFSA events. Some competitions bridged the divide, such as the

Arnold Strongman Classic The Arnold Strongman Classic is an annual competition featuring strength athletes from all over the world, determining who is the Strongest Man in the World. Created by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Lorimer and Terry Todd, it is an offshoot of the Ar ...

and the

Fortissimus The Fortissimus is a defunct event in strength athletics. The name means "the mightiest" and was a multi-event challenge at the end of which the winner is crowned as the "Strongest Man on Earth". It was set up to bring together the strongest compe ...

, but neither had the history, gravitas, or popular appeal of the

. Most of the IFSA athletes, with the demise of the IFSA finances, competed in SCL from 2008. This deal, along with the Fortissimus deal before it, united strongman in a way it had not been since 2004.

Producers and key staff

Giants Live is a collaboration between

IMG Media IMG, originally known as the International Management Group, is a global sports, events and talent management company headquartered in New York City. It has been owned by Endeavor since 2013. Trans World International (TWI) is an event and pro ...

and Power Productions UK - owned by Colin Bryce: *

– an ex-Strongman competitor and Olympic bobsleigher, Bryce is currently a long-term producer of World Strongest Man through his company Power Productions and formerly the head referee and commentator on strongman events such as

, Britain's Strongest Man, Strongman Super Series and World Strongman Cup. *

Darren Sadler Darren Sadler (born 22 March 1980) is a British former strongman competitor, winner of the World Strongman Challenge in the under 105 kg category, and notable for being a repeat competitor at the World's Strongest Man d ...

– an ex-Strongman competitor and former world champion in the U105 category, Sadler is currently a co-producer of World Strongest Man alongside Colin Bryce and formerly the head referee on for Giants Live competitions. *

Magnús Ver Magnússon Magnús Ver Magnússon (born 23 April 1963) is an Icelandic former powerlifter and strongman competitor. He is a four-time World's Strongest Man, having won in 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest strongmen of ...

– an ex-Strongman competitor and four-time holder of

, Magnússon is currently the head referee for Giants Live and

competitions. *

Bill Kazmaier William Kazmaier (born December 30, 1953) is an American former world champion powerlifter, world champion strongman and professional wrestler. During the 1970s and 1980s, he set numerous powerlifti ...

– an ex-Strongman competitor and three-time holder of

, Kazmaier is currently one of three main commentators for Giants Live competitions, alongside Neil Pickup and

Radzi Chinyanganya Munyaradzi Thomas Kingsley "Radzi" Chinyanganya (born 12 September 1986) is a British presenter and broadcaster. He co-presented the BBC children's TV programme ''Blue Peter'' from 2013 until 2019, and the ITV game show ''Cannonball'' in 2017 ...

. * Neil Pickup – formerly a professional arm wrestler, Pickup is currently one of three main commentators for Giants Live competitions, alongside

and

. Pickup is also the MC for these events. *

– Radzi is currently one of three main commentators for Giants Live competitions, alongside Neil Pickup and

. * Nev & Neo – The duo dream team behind the live feed * Dave Warner – Ex strongman competitor and multiple time UK strongest man competitor. One of the head judges. Judged Eddie's 500kg deadlift

Event results

Most wins

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Žydrūnas Savickas Žydrūnas Savickas (; born ...

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Eddie Hall Edward Stephen Hall (born 15 January 1988) is an English media personality, actor, boxer, and former strongman. He won the World's Strongest Man 2017 competition. Hall has also won national competitions such as UK's Strongest Man, Britain's S ...

, , , , 5 , , 8 , - ,

Laurence Shahlaei Laurence Cristiaan David Shahlaei (born 25 December 1982) is an English YouTuber, strength sports commentator, analyst, coach, and a retired strongman and powerlifting competitor. Shahlaei is a winner of England's Strongest Man, Britain's St ...

, , , , 4 , , 10 , - , Juha-Matti Järvi , , , , 4 , , 5 , - ,

Johannes Årsjö Johannes Årsjö (born 21 June 1985) is a Swedish professional strongman competitor notable for coming in 2nd in the 2014 and 2016 Europe's Strongest Man, and winning Sweden's Strongest Man nine times. ...

, , , , 3 , , 9 , - , Oleksii Novikov , , , , 3 , , 7 , - ,

Evan Singleton Evan Singleton is an American strongman competitor and former professional wrestler who carries the nickname T-Rex. In the WWE, he wrestled under the name Adam Mercer. Singleton has won 4 Strongman competitions: 2019 G ...

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Mateusz Kieliszkowski Mateusz Kieliszkowski (born 12 August 1993) is a Polish strongman competitor. He is particularly known for his impressive pressing ability within strongman, as well as his prowess in the Atlas Stones and various moving events. Strongman caree ...

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Brian Shaw Brian Keith Shaw (born March 22, 1966) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He could play both guard positions, but wa ...

, , , , 3 , , 5 , - , Derek Poundstone , , {{USA , , 3 , , 3 , -

References

External links

Giants Live official websitewww.colinbryce.comEurope's Strongest Man official website
Strongmen competitions