Life
Canadian Derwinsky has established himself as one of the world’s best strongmen. From Thorold, Ontario, he is one of a long list of elite level Canadian athletes who seem to have proliferated the World’s Strongest Man final in recent years. Working as a bus driver in St. Catherine’s, Niagara, he qualified for the WSM final himself, in 2024, producing a stunning 6th place finish.
Wes was attracted to the sport after watching the 2010 World’s Strongest Man on television. As one of the biggest in his school, he thought: “I could do that!”, and after binge watching Derek Poundstone and Travis Ortmayer’s YouTube training videos he began working out and slowly building his own collection of Strongman gear.
Having broken into the top flite, Derwinsky aims to stay in the premier group for as long as he can and potentially make the podium at one of the big shows. He would like to run pro-level shows himself in the Niagara area and perhaps open his own gym. Wes believes in self-regulation, and tries to avoid posting big numbers on Instagram; saving it for contest time!
Career
Wes began competing in strongman in 2014, aged just 18, and has not looked back since. For the first four years he competed on the Canadian circuit at small, open contests. He earned his pro card in 2018, qualifying for his first Canada’s Strongest Man, where he finished 9th. Covid prevented much competing until 2021, but Wes had made good progress and placed 2nd at Canada’s Strongest Man! Placing 3rd the year after and again in 2024, Wes was also able to take podium finished at the 2022 Shaw Classic Open and the 2023 North America’s Strongest Man show.
He has competed in over 50 contests in his career so far, so although his international breakthrough has been relatively recent, he is a highly experienced athlete. He is coached by Jean-François Caron, and his vast experience has proved invaluable when preparing to compete in big international shows
Wes’s route to WSM came through the Official Strongman Games, where he finished runner-up to Marcus Crowder in 2023. At world’s he qualified for the finals after a tremendous performance in his heat and a brutal stone-off with South Africa’s Jaco Schoonwinkel, where they both completed 8-reps each on the 200kg stone. In the final, an unfortunate no rep showing in the Axle Press did him few favours. A solid performance from there on, including =1st in the Keg Toss, sharing a new world record of 7.76m with Mitchell Hooper and Tom Stoltman, enabled him to finish 6th overall. Not bad for a debut WSM performance!
Most recently, Wes finished 6th at the Giants Live World Tour Finals and placed 4th at the two-day Magnús Ver Magnússon Classic in Iceland.
Best Result
At the 2021 Canada’s Strongest Man in Saint-Anne-de Beauprė, Wes finished runner-up to Gabriel Rhėaume in a 17-man, 10-event contest. Finishing ahead of Maxime Boudreault, who placed 3rd at World’s Strongest Man that year, and Tristain Hoath, Derwinsky won the Power Stairs and placed 2nd in the Power Medley and Keg Toss. Disappointing performances in the Hercules Hold and Viking Press prevented him from challenging for the title, but it signalled Derwinsky’s arrival as one of Canada’s very best!
Competition Results
2024 World’s Strongest Man: 6th place
2024 Giants Live World Tour Finals: 6th place
Canada’s Strongest Man: 2021 – runner-up, 2024 & 2022 – 3rd place, 2023 – 4th place, 2018 – 9th place
2023 Official Strongman Games: runner-up
North America’s Strongest Man: 2023 – 3rd place, 2024 – 5th place
2024 Shaw Classic: 9th place
Shaw Classic (Open): 2023 – runner-up, 2022 – 3rd place
2024 Magnús Ver Magnússon Classic: 4th place
Eastern Canada’s Strongest Man: 2022 – winner, 2023 – runner-up
Best Lifts
Competition Lifts
Deadlift: 397kg/875lb
18-inch Deadlift: 385.5kg/850lb
Log lift: 193kg/425lb
Media
Derwinsky can be followed on Instagram: strongman_moose and footage of his competition performances can be seen on YouTube, along with some podcast appearances and an interview with Brian Shaw. His performance at World’s Strongest Man and The World Tour Finals were aired on Britain’s Channel 5 over Christmas and are available to watch on My5.
