Life
Kane is an English strongman from Weymouth in Dorset who has made a huge impact on the sport after erupting onto the national and international scene, taking podium spots despite being a complete novice. Working as a full-time water engineer, Kane grew up in Weymouth and went to school with Shane Flowers, whose victory at England’s Strongest Man inspired him to become involved in the sport.
Unusually for a strength athlete, Francis was 25 before he had ever stepped foot in a gym and weighed just 12-stone. He was persuaded to begin lifting by a friend, but initially was put off as the sessions were so hard, they made him sick! Kane returned however, and a year later had packed on 9-stone of muscle.
Francis has represented Britain on the Strongman Champions League circuit and has made the podium at England’s Strongest Man, which was his first ever contest.
Career
Before switching his focus to strongman, Kane had a highly successful career as a powerlifter. Coached by Shane Flowers, he won European and World Amateur titles, and he attributes his current rapid progress in strongman to the base of strength he established during this time.
In 2021 Kane accompanied his friend and coach, Flowers, to the England’s Strongest Man contest, which he duly won. Francis decided there and then that he would begin training for strongman and within a year he had won his online qualifier and placed 3rd at England’s Strongest Man.
Since that contest, things have moved very quickly for Francis who was subsequently selected to represent Britain at the Strongman Champions League where he competed 5 times in 4 months, taking podium spots in Romania, Gibraltar and in Turkey where he came 3rd at the World Finals. Not bad going at all, for a man who had only been training specifically for just over a year.
Best Title
As yet, a competitive strongman victory still eludes Francis, which is hardly surprising given the short time he has been competing and the fact that he has jumped fully into the deep end of the sport, rather than work his way up slowly through novice and regional contests.
The competition result of which he is most proud is the podium place he secured at the Strongman Champions League World Finals in Turkey, in November of 2022. Latvia’s Aivars Šmaukstelis took the title with Francis finishing just a single point behind runner-up Ervin Toots, of Estonia.
The Englishman may well have finished 2nd had he not taken a nasty fall in the Loading Race. The highlights of the contest for Kane were his two second place event results in the Block Press and Truck Pull.
Competition Results
Best Lifts
Competition Lifts
Training Lifts
Present Day
Kane will make his Giants Live and Britain’s Strongest Man debut at the end of January in Sheffield and will be hoping a successful performance there will help to secure more regular appearances on the Giants Live Arena Tour. For now, he is happy to continue gaining experience and improving his all-round conditioning and skill set.
Future goals include qualification to World’s Strongest Man, which would require a podium finish at Giants Live. As a man who works full time, fitting training in after work, Kane would love to be in a position to make strongman his career.
Media
Kane’s Instagram account includes plenty of clips of him training and competing and he keeps it regularly updated. Going by the handle @kane_francis_weight_slinger, he has nearly 3,000 followers and is sure to be adding to that total very shortly if he continues to perform as well as he has been doing.
His appearance at the 2023 Britain’s Strongest Man will be appearing in the Giants Live World’s Strongest Man Arena Tour television broadcasts on Channel 5, which air during the festive period in December.
