The Giants Live World Tour Finals is episode 4 of the seasonal strongman TV series: ‘World’s Strongest Man’ and its Qualifiers: Giants Live. The World Tour Finals will be shown on UK television of Thursday 23rd December.
Details on how to purchase the ultimate strongman ticket in 2022 can be found be found here: World Tour Final 2022
The Giants Live World Tour Finals serve as a season finale to the Giants Live Arena Tour, the qualifying tour for the World’s Strongest Man heats and finals. The field of athletes is usually a truly global one, reflecting the title, unlike other contests, such as Britain’s Strongest Man or Europe’s Strongest Man, where the field is limited by geographical area.
The inaugural World Tour Final contest was held at the Manchester AO Arena in 2017 and was won by Zydrunas Savickas of Lithuania in a thrilling contest that saw Savickas, a 4-time World’s Strongest Man winner defeat Georgia’s Konstantine Janashia in a thrilling late comeback.
The Giants Live World Tour Finals are held at the OVO Hydro Arena in Glasgow, Scotland. 2021 is the first year the World Tour Finals have been held in Glasgow. Previously, the World Tour Finals were held at the AO Arena, Manchester, England.
Iron Biby will take part in the World Log Lift Challenge, on his own, at the World Tour Finals contest in Glasgow. The original competition was won by Scotland’s Luke Stoltman and England’s Graham Hicks, who shared the World Log Lift Challenge title at Leeds First Direct Arena on September 4th 2021, with a 195kg (429lb) lift. Due to travel disruption making the attendance of Iron Biby impossible, the pair agreed to allow him to contest the title two weeks later in Glasgow, as the Giants Live World Tour Finals. Using the identical log, Biby was able to win the Log Lift Challenge trophy and establish a new world record of 229kg (504lb)
Scotland’s Luke Stoltman is one of the favorites to win the Giants Live World Tour Finals at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro Arena. The contest will be aired on Channel 5, on UK television on Thursday 23rd December at 7.00pm.
Luke Stoltman was the recent winner of the coveted Europe’s Strongest Man title, which he won in Leeds on September 4th. He is the older of the Stoltman brothers who have taken the sport of strongman by storm in the last few years. His younger brother, Tom Stoltman is the 2021 World’s Strongest Man. They are the only brothers to reach the World’s Strongest Man finals.
Tom Stoltman, the younger brother of Europe’s Strongest Man winner, Luke Stoltman, of Scotland is a huge threat to take the Giants Live World Tour Finals trophy at the OVO Hydro Arena, Glasgow.
Tom Stoltman was forced to withdraw from the 2021 Europe’s Strongest Man contest due to a positive test result for Covid. However, the 6’ 8” Scottish giant has shown himself to be in tremendous form this year and is a threat in any contest he enters.
Ex-WWE wrestling superstar, Evan “T-Rex” Singleton is hotly fancied to win the Giants Live World Tour Finals in Glasgow, which will be televised on 23rd December on Channel 5 at 7.00pm.
Evan Singleton recently triumphed at the Giants Live Strongman Classic event held at the Royal Albert Hall in July. Tickets for 2022 Strongman Classic can be found here: The Strongman Classic 2022
2021 World’s Strongest Man 3rd place finisher, Maxime Boudreault of Canada is another strong contender for the World Tour Finals 2021 title.
The 2021 Giants Live World Tour Finals competition is made up of 5 events:
Nicol Stones carry is for maximum distance, with competitors able to put them down only once, with a maximum 10-second pause. The two stones have a combined weight of 252kg (554lb) and are held one in each hand by this metal handles.
Log Press for reps. Athletes will lift the 150kg log head-to-head in pairs. Most reps in 1-minute wins.
Axle Deadlift for reps. This 360kg (792lb) fixed axle bar has to be lifted for maximum repetitions in 1 minute. The inflexibility of the bar and the thickness of the handle make this deadlift variation especially taxing.
Car Walk. In pairs, head-to-head, athletes must race over 20m carrying these 450kg (990lb) cars on their shoulders.
Castle Stones. There are 5 spherical stones ranging in weight from 120 – 180kg (264 – 396lb). Each one must be placed on its plinth as quickly as possible.
Athletes accumulate points from each event. After all 5 events have been completed, the athlete with the most points is the overall winner.
The current world record for the Nicol Walking Stones is held by Kevin Faires of the USA, who carried them a total distance of 22.2m (72’) at the 2021 Giants Live World Tour Finals at the OVO Hydro Arena, Glasgow.
Andy Black of Cumbernauld, Scotland held the world record for the Nicol Walking Stones, which he set on 21stAugust 2021. He carried the two stones, which have a combined weight of 252kg (554lb) 19.55m (64’).
The previous world record was held by Luke Stoltman of Invergordon in Scotland, with a distance of 19.3m (63’ 3”).
The combined weight of the Nicol Walking Stones is 252kg (554lb). The stones are not evenly weighted, with the heavier weighing 138kg (304lb) and the lighter of the pair weighing in at 114kg (251lb).
As with similar walking stones, such as the Dinnie stones, the gross weight is not the greatest obstacle to carrying them for distance, but rather the awkwardness of their size and shape.
The Nicols ‘’Walking’’ Stones, when carried, knock into the athlete’s shins and greatly impede any forward movement. Progress is slow, which means that the athlete’s grip tends to weaken.
The Giants Live World Tour Finals winner’s trophy, the “Dr Douglas Edmunds Trophy” is named in honor of the man who has been dubbed the “Godfather of Modern Strongman.” Dr Douglas Edmunds of Carmunnock, Glasgow, who sadly died on 30th October 2020. Douglas was a close friend and mentor to the Giants Live owners Colin Bryce and Darren Sadler.
Giants Live decided to pay their respect to such a key figure, in both the sport of Strongman as well as the growth of the World’s Strongest Man movement, by naming the WTF trophy after him.
The trophy was handed to the competition winner, Luke Stoltman, by Douglas Edmunds’ eldest son, Gregor Edmunds, who himself was a World’s Strongest Man finalist as well as a Highland Games World Champion.
As the Giants Live World Tour Finals finally came to Scotland, it was particularly fitting that the trophy awarded to Luke Stoltman, of Invergordon, Scotland, who said after ‘’It is an honor to win amongst so many great competitors, but im even more honored to have won the Dr Edmunds trophy for Scotland. I was very fond of Douglas and I know he would have enjoyed this show tonight.’’
In fact, the Scottish athletes took the first two places, with Luke’s younger brother Tom Stoltman taking second.
Dr Douglas Edmunds was the burly, stetson-donning Scot who officiated and organized the World’s Strongest Man contests through the nineties and into the noughties. He co-founded the World’s Strongest Man competition with David Webster in 1977. Edmunds was largely responsible for the huge growth in the sport of strongman during this time, including its television success, and the innovation of many of the events we still see the athletes competing in, such as the Atlas Stones.
The trophy was handed to the competition winner, Luke Stoltman, by Douglas Edmunds’ eldest son, Gregor Edmunds, who himself was a World’s Strongest Man finalist as well as a Highland Games World Champion.
As the Giants Live World Tour Finals finally came to Scotland, it was particularly fitting that the trophy awarded to Luke Stoltman, of Invergordon, Scotland, who said after ‘’It is an honor to win amongst so many great competitors, but im even more honored to have won the Dr Edmunds trophy for Scotland. I was very fond of Douglas and I know he would have enjoyed this show tonight.’’
In fact, the Scottish athletes took the first two places, with Luke’s younger brother Tom Stoltman taking second.
Dr Douglas Edmunds was born on 29th May 1944. He was involved in weightlifting and highland games as a young man, as well as playing rugby. He won Scottish titles in shot put and 2 world caber tossing championships in the 1970’s. He began organizing strongman and Highland games from 1971 onwards and by the 1990’s was a regular in front of the cameras as World’s Strongest Man’s head referee.
Dr Douglas Edmunds’ legacy to the sport of strongman is huge. He innovated many of the events we still see, such as the Atlas Stones and was largely responsible for the contests’ traditional of exotic locations and culturally linked events which gave the competitions part of their appeal to the watching public.
Episode 4 – World Tour Finals, Glasgow: 23rd December, 7.00pm to 8pm
Episode 5 – Britain’s Strongest Man, Sheffield: 26th December, 7.00pm to 8pm
