World’s Strongest Man 2021 Results: Latest Point Standings After Day 3

The third and final day of the World's Strongest Man qualifiers took place on Thursday at Old Sacramento Waterfront in Sacramento, California.

Competitors, who have been split into five groups during qualifiers, took part in three events Thursday: Overhead Medley, Pickaxe Hold and Stone Off.

Following the Pickaxe Hold, the five group leaders with the most points accumulated until that juncture moved onto the finals, with the second- and third-place finishers in each group facing off in individual Stone Off battles to determine the last crew of finalists.

There was more news outside those results, however.

It was also a bittersweet day as WSM legend Terry Hollands, who withdrew from the competition, announced his retirement at 42 years of age:

    

Hollands registered third-place finishes in the 2007 and 2011 Strongman competitions.

The finals are up next, and they will occur over a two-day period beginning Friday. Until then, however, here's a look at results and highlights from that trio of competitions.

All results are via Andrew Gutman of BarBend.

     

Overhead Medley (Group Winners)

Group 1: Brian Shaw (United States): 4 reps, 34.72 seconds

Group 2: Trey Mitchell (United States): 4 reps, 29.77 seconds

Group 3: JF Caron (Canada): 4 reps, 33.72 seconds

Group 4: Adam Bishop (United Kingdom): 3 reps, 27.74 seconds

Group 5: Oleksii Novikov (Ukraine): 4 reps, 24.83 seconds

    

Pickaxe Hold (Group Winners)

Group 1: Aivars Smaukstelis (Latvia): 32.51 seconds

Group 2: Trey Mitchell (United States): 29.77 seconds

Group 3: Robert Oberst (United States): 48.03 seconds

Group 4: Jerry Pritchett (United States): 35.39 seconds

Group 5: Bobby Thompson (United States): 41.72 seconds

    

10 Finalists

Group Winners

Group 1: Brian Shaw (United States): 19.5 points

Group 2: Trey Mitchell (United Stated): 19 points

Group 3: JF Caron (Canada): 20 points

Group 4: Konstantine Janashia (Georgia): 21 points

Group 5: Bobby Thompson (United States): 18 points

   

Stone-Off Winners

Group 1: Maxime Boudreault (Canada) def. Aivars Smaukstelis (Latvia)

Group 2: Tom Stoltman (United Kingdom) def. Mark Felix (United Kingdom)

Group 3: Eythor Ingolfsson Melsted (Iceland) def. Robert Oberst (United States)

Group 4: Adam Bishop (United Kingdom) def. Jerry Pritchett (United States)

Group 5: Luke Stoltman (United Kingdom) def. Bobby Thompson (United States)

     

Overhead Medley

Fourteen competitors were able to successfully complete the overhead medley, which consisted of strongmen performing an overhead press on four successive weights of increasing heaviness. There were two heavy dumbbells (210 pounds and 220 pounds), a circus barbell (342 pounds) and an axle barbell (360 pounds).

Tom Stoltman completed the task in 38.02 seconds:

However, that was only good enough for third in his group, which Trey Mitchell won thanks to a time of 29.77 seconds.

The star of the show was Ukranian strongman (and 2020 WSM winner) Oleksii Novikov, who dominated with a 24.83-second performance. That mark was the fastest of the day by just eighth-tenths of a second over Luke Stoltman.

That duo finished two seconds clear of anyone else in this competition.

     

Pickaxe Hold

This task was quite simple, as competitors needed to hold a pickaxe for as long as possible in front of them. The longest time won.

Robert Oberest's competition-best performance of 48.03 seconds secured a stone-off spot for the American, who was cheered on by adoring fans during his epic performance:

Group 1 was an incredibly close affair, as Aivars Smaukstelis (32.51 seconds) edged Gavin Bilton (31.02 seconds) and Maxime Boudreault (30.64 seconds). Mitchell was the only other competitor to come close to Oberst's time, as he managed to hold the axe for 46.13 seconds to win Group 2.

    

Stone-Off

The unique stone-off competition involved two competitors taking turns lifting stones above a wooden bar.

Per Gutman, the duos lifted six stones of ascending weights from 310 to 465 pounds. If the two men were able to get that far, then they took turns lifting the 465-pound stone until a winner was declared.

Here's Luke Stoltman (the eventual winner) and Kevin Faires in action.

There was one notable absence in this round: Novikov finished fourth in his group, losing out on a spot in the final due to a tiebreaker with Faires. The tough Group 4 saw Bobby Thompson and Luke Stoltman finish with 18 points and Faires and Novikov tying for 17.

In the end, the five Stone-Off winners filled out the 10-finalist group to officially end the qualifying round.