Life
Graham Hicks is the 2019 Britain’s Strongest Man winner from the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe. Hicksy, as he is known, works as a design support engineer for British Aerospace, where he began as an apprentice. He has three children and is married to Kimber-Lee.
A keen sportsman as a youngster, in his early twenties Graham moved away from football, which was his main interest, and into strongman. At a relatively short (for strongman) 5’ 10”, Hicks first began competing in the U105kg class, but soon added huge mass to his frame, bulking up to 163kg/359lb.
Hicks is now renowned for his massive static strength, particularly his overhead pressing, where he set a British record in the Log Press of 220kg/485lb in 2020 at Europe’s Strongest Man.
Career
After making his strongman debut in the U105kg class at the 2010 North of England’s Strongest Man, where he placed 7th, Hicks made rapid progress and dominated the division the following year. He took wins at both England’s and Britain’s Strongest Man U105kg and immediately looked to move into the open division.
Graham made an immediate impact, coming 4th at both the 2012 Europe’s Strongest Man qualifier and Britain’s Strongest Man, earning himself an invite to World’s Strongest Man, in Los Angeles, where he came a creditable 4th in his heat.
Hicks would return to World’s four more times before finally qualifying for the final in 2020 in Bradenton, Florida, where he placed 10th. He has not competed at World’s Strongest Man since, due to injury and covid.
In 2014, Graham achieved his first podium finish at Britain’s Strongest Man, securing 2nd place. He repeated this feat in 2018, losing out to England’s Eddie Hall on both occasions. In 2019, he finally achieved the victory he had been looking for, in Sheffield, when he defeated Adam Bishop of England, and Scotland’s Tom Stoltman on his way to taking the British title.
Throughout his strongman career, Graham has built a reputation for incredible overhead lifting ability, particularly in the log press where he established numerous British records. His current best of 220kg/485lb has only been beaten by Scotland’s Luke Stoltman, in the WUS “Feats of Strength” series, outside of a normal competitive scenario.
During 2018 and 2019, Graham made a brief foray into powerlifting and achieved remarkable success. In 2018, at the BPU Andy Bolton Deadlift Challenge, he won the contest with a 405kg/893lb pull. The following year at the Pro Raw Big Dogs 4 contest in Victoria, Australia, Hicks’ first and only full powerlifting meet, he finished 2nd with the highest total ever achieved by a British lifter: 1,100kg/2,425lb.
Best Title
Graham’s best contest win to date remains his 2019 Britain’s Strongest Man title. Having appeared on the podium on four occasions and finished runner-up to Eddie Hall twice, Graham was able to defeat Adam Bishop and Tom Stoltman to win a well-deserved British title in Sheffield. He won the 150kg/330lb Log for repetitions event with 8 lifts on his way to a 1.5-point victory over Bishop.
Competition Results
Powerlifting
Best Lifts
Competition Lifts
Powerlifting
Training lifts
Present Day
Graham has been dealing with a long-standing groin injury which he sustained in 2021. This forced him to withdraw from World’s Strongest Man in 2021 and prevented him from competing at Britain’s Strongest Man in 2022.
Hicksy has been training and competing with this injury for over a year now and is currently working hard on rehab as he looks to return to competition.
Media
Graham has been a regular on our television screens over most of the last decade with the success he has enjoyed on the Giants Live World’s Strongest Man Arena Tour and at World’s Strongest Man itself. Most recently, his two 3rd places at both Britain’s and Europe’s Strongest Man were aired on Channel 5, last Christmas.
Hicks also has a social media presence on several platforms: On Instagram he can be found at @grahamhicksuk, where he regularly updates his 71k followers on his training and competitions. On Facebook he goes by the username Graham Hicks and has attracted 79k followers. He also keeps a regularly updated YouTube account where new videos are added at least weekly.
In addition, Hicks features regularly in the strength scene’s online press, such as barbend.com, fitnessvolt.com and generationiron.com, with regular articles charting his competitive results, injury status and training progress.
